Dreamland, by Sam Quinones, focused on the opiate epidemic that has been flourishing within America. Similarly, the documentary, Heroin Cape Cod, USA focused on the widespread abuse of Vicodin, Percocet, and Oxycodone that has led the U.S. into the rise of an opiate addiction today. Both of these sources not only focused on the operations behind the administration of opiates like heroin, but also the factors driving the epidemic in the U.S.
A driving factor of the opiate epidemic both emphasized in Dreamland and Heroin Cape Cod, USA was the over prescription of opiates, leading to what is known as “pill mills.” It is important to stop and to reflect on the statistic that 80% of heroin users start with prescription pills. These pills include Vicodin, Oxycodone, OxyContin, and Morphine. It just so happens that these are all being prescribed in large doses …show more content…
As described in Dreamland, OxyContin contains one drug, Oxycodone which comes in doses of either 40 or 80 mg. Most importantly, Purdue Pharmaceutical Company urged its salesmen to emphasize the safety of the drug, such that there was less than a one percent chance of addiction and that there were studies to show this, even when there wasn’t. These Purdue salesmen even offered OxyContin coupons to physicians in order to hand out to their patients. Additionally, there was even a video used to promote OxyContin. This video was called From One Pain Patient to Another: Advice from Patients Who Found Relief. This video encouraged patients to express their pain to the doctors and once again, emphasized that OxyContin was non-addictive. Despite the use of false advertising, OxyContin prescriptions rose from 670,000 in 1997 to over 6.2 million in 2002. In 2015, pharmaceutical company’s revenues for opioid painkillers reached $15 billion. Ironically enough, most users began to use OxyContin
A driving factor of the opiate epidemic both emphasized in Dreamland and Heroin Cape Cod, USA was the over prescription of opiates, leading to what is known as “pill mills.” It is important to stop and to reflect on the statistic that 80% of heroin users start with prescription pills. These pills include Vicodin, Oxycodone, OxyContin, and Morphine. It just so happens that these are all being prescribed in large doses …show more content…
As described in Dreamland, OxyContin contains one drug, Oxycodone which comes in doses of either 40 or 80 mg. Most importantly, Purdue Pharmaceutical Company urged its salesmen to emphasize the safety of the drug, such that there was less than a one percent chance of addiction and that there were studies to show this, even when there wasn’t. These Purdue salesmen even offered OxyContin coupons to physicians in order to hand out to their patients. Additionally, there was even a video used to promote OxyContin. This video was called From One Pain Patient to Another: Advice from Patients Who Found Relief. This video encouraged patients to express their pain to the doctors and once again, emphasized that OxyContin was non-addictive. Despite the use of false advertising, OxyContin prescriptions rose from 670,000 in 1997 to over 6.2 million in 2002. In 2015, pharmaceutical company’s revenues for opioid painkillers reached $15 billion. Ironically enough, most users began to use OxyContin