Pain Killer - bookrastinating.com

Paperback

Published Oct. 29, 2020 by Sceptre.

ISBN:: 978-1-5293-5616-8

(1 review)

"Between 1999 and 2017, an estimated 250,000 Americans died from overdoses involving prescription painkillers, a plague ignited by the aggressive marketing of OxyContin by its maker, Purdue Pharma. Purdue, owned by a wealthy and secretive family--the Sacklers--knew early on that teenagers and others were abusing its billion dollar "wonder" drug. But Justice Department officials balked a decade ago when it came to meting out justice, allowing an opioid crisis to evolve into a catastrophe. Originally published in 2003 and hailed since as groundbreaking, Meier--in this thoroughly updated edition--reveals new and shocking information about how long the drug maker knew about OxyContin's abuse, even as it marketed it aggressively, and the way government officials passed up opportunities to protect hundreds of thousands of lives. Equal parts crime thriller, medical detective story, and business expos,̌ Pain Killer is the origin story of the opioid crisis, a hard-hitting look at how a supposed …

"Between 1999 and 2017, an estimated 250,000 Americans died from overdoses involving prescription painkillers, a plague ignited by the aggressive marketing of OxyContin by its maker, Purdue Pharma. Purdue, owned by a wealthy and secretive family--the Sacklers--knew early on that teenagers and others were abusing its billion dollar "wonder" drug. But Justice Department officials balked a decade ago when it came to meting out justice, allowing an opioid crisis to evolve into a catastrophe. Originally published in 2003 and hailed since as groundbreaking, Meier--in this thoroughly updated edition--reveals new and shocking information about how long the drug maker knew about OxyContin's abuse, even as it marketed it aggressively, and the way government officials passed up opportunities to protect hundreds of thousands of lives. Equal parts crime thriller, medical detective story, and business expos,̌ Pain Killer is the origin story of the opioid crisis, a hard-hitting look at how a supposed wonder drug became the gateway drug to a national tragedy"--Provided by publisher.

3 editions

Garrett reviewed Pain Killer by Barry Meier

Review of 'Pain Killer' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

After already reading Empire of Pain and watching "The Crime of the Century" on HBO, I already had a fair amount of background on the opioid crisis although it's one of those broad issues that you never really get enough of. Since this book was presented as an early informer of many of the things that Empire of Pain touched on, I figured it was worth a read. Writing is concise, descriptions are powerful. The updated version is great although if you're looking for a one-and-done book on the topic, I'd probably recommend just going over to "Empire of Pain" by Patrick Radden Keefe, a phenomenally written and power account of the opioid crisis and in particular, the Sacklers role in its genesis.

Related:
"Empire of Pain" by Patrick Radden Keefe
"The Crime of the Century" by Alex Gibney (www.imdb.com/title/tt14055432/)