Over Christmas I binge watched Dopesick on Disney+. And it takes a lot for me to binge watch because I have the attention span of a literal fish. It was really good. If you haven’t, I recommend watching it.
Once I finished it, I looked it up to see if there was any talk of a second season. Only, this Google search instead informed me this was a true story.
The series follows the beginning, the middle, and not the end of a drug epidemic taking part in certain parts of America. The gateway drug in this instance is a painkiller, OxyContin. Except, it obviously doesn’t work. On purpose is my guess.
The general gist of the show (and reality for many who fell victim to the ongoing epidemic in America) is that doctors – under false pretences that the drug is non-addictive – prescribe patients OxyContin for ongoing pain, such as that from an injury or op.
Then, when doctors start to come back to the Purdue Pharma representatives saying their patients seem to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms, the company create a new condition which means you need to up their dosage. Non-spoiler alert: it’s obviously bullshit and they’re suffering withdrawal symptoms!
Many of the characters in the show you gain an attachment to get their lives ruined by the drug, for the company to predictably blame the victims not their addictive drug.
Before Covid-19 I had never even heard of ‘Big Pharma’, but now with the pandemic and this show I have come to realise what such a big issue this industry is for society. People’s lives are put as second to their profits in such a sick manner.
At the end of the show, not to completely spoil it, ‘The People’ get a sort of victory over Big Pharma, and also sort of don’t. I remember at the time of watching being annoyed, I was like…come on why didn’t they let them fully take Big Pharma down???? Upon realising it is based on non-fictional events, I understand why. This is reality. And capitalist society is made to ensure ‘The People’ never win.
My heart goes out to anyone who has suffered as a result of greedy medical companies across the pond. It is unfathomable, but at the same time so so believable.
Izzy sagt, Izzy does 