I read today (10/13/21) that a new miniseries, “Dopesick” has been released. It is about the mega drug pushers “Perdition” (Purdue) Pharma and their flagship product, OxyContin.
It is powerful. I have watched the first episode so far. I felt as if I “had” to watch it. Why? My firstborn son Kelvin died on March 17, 2012, from an accidental overdose of a combination of Oxy and alcohol. The coroner said he didn’t have much of either in his system, but it was the combination that proved fatal. Even then, he was surprised at how little he had in his system.
By the way, It's been almost a year (11/15/2020) since I wrote a post here (in which I mention Beth Macy’s book, on which the “Dopesick” series is based) entitled WHY I AM SUING PURDUE PHARMA FOR 10 TRILLION DOLLARS: And Why I Don't Really Want "Their" Money
I didn’t even know what OxyContin was at the time Kelvin died. I had heard the word, but had not paid much attention to it. I had to ask the detective who informed me about his cause of death (we didn’t know at first) what it was. When I asked him, “What’s OxyContin?” there was a pause. I got the impression he was either surprised I didn’t know what OxyContin was, or thought I was feigning ignorance of it.
Now I know more about it than I care to. And it wasn’t just from this series. I have read books about it in the intervening years. Still, I felt I “had” to watch the show. I even signed up for Hulu so as to be able to watch it.
“Dopesick” certainly does nothing to allay or alleviate my very strong negative feelings against the family behind the company, the Sack O’Shitlers. So far (I’ve only seen one of the eight episodes so far), it may even exacerbate my extreme anger toward them.
Yes, that version of their name (Sack O’Shitlers) is a little crude. It’s even profane. But there is a great degree of difference between profanity and obscenity. And what that gang of mass manslaughterers deliberately perpetrated was orders of magnitude worse than a mere profanity. They deserve every ounce of vitriol I can muster and pour out upon them, and then some. But that’s enough; I’ll leave it at that.
By the way, Michael Keaton does a great acting job—as does everyone else, really. He was also superb in the movie “Spotlight” (as was Mark Ruffalo).
I may add more to this post later, as I watch the rest of the series. I don’t know…
I learned a new word in episode 2: “Oxycuted” Fitting.
After episode 3, I want to say Thank You to the people behind making “Dopesick.” It is not just a drama, but also basically a PSA—which is ironic, because Perdition Pharma tried to pass off an infomerical plugging OxyContin as a PSA.
Now I have to wait for episode 4. Next week, Wednesday 10/20. I’ll probably update this then.
10/20/21
I watched episode 4 today. Here are a few things that especially struck me this time:
1) “Opioids can change the brain’s chemistry” so that an addict only feels normal when he has gotten his fix, and is otherwise in great pain. Perdition Pharma claimed to be concerned about people suffering pain, so why did they throw so many people from the frying pan into the fire?
2) I have a complaint about Portenoy—Dr. Russell Portenoy, that is. He touted the benefits of opioids for decades, downplaying their dangers. A couple of years ago he "saw the light" and is now pointing the finger at Perdition Pharma.
Fine, but why? It seems he is taking a plea bargain (of sorts) to avoid being charged himself. Better late than never, or too little too late?
It seems that Dr., in many cases, is not short for “Doctor” but rather “Drugpusher.”
3) It’s obvious that Perdition Pharma and the Sack O’Shitlers did this for money and money only. It was greed that motivated them. And hatred of their fellow man, or at best a complete lack of true concern for them.
No amount of money—not even all the wealth in the world—is as valuable as a single human life, but it’s shocking to calculate just how cheaply Perdition Pharma and the Sack O’ Shitlers viewed life. It’s estimated they made $35,000,000,000 (thirty-five billion dollars) from OxyContin. In just the twenty years from 1999 to 2019, over 247,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids. That figure does not include overdose deaths by people who did not have a prescription at the time of their death, nor does it count those who died from heroin overdoses after becoming addicted to Oxy and moving on to that drug, which is similar and sometimes easier to get and less expensive.
Even if you use a figure of 250,000 deaths (which is a very conservative estimate), that’s $140,000 of income per death. But that’s gross profit (in more ways than one). The net profit would be considerably less (after the outlay for wages, commissions, manufacturing and shipping costs, etc. is factored in).
Also, that money was spread out to several people. And, again, not all of it was profit, either, so the actual amount that even the “fat cats” got from each death was far less than that figure of $140,000. And yet it was worth it to them to kill their fellow man so they would have a few more status symbols to parade around in an attempt to prove their worth.
Those evil and vicious predators cared more about getting that extra money (they already had much more than they really needed, so it was all “extra” money) than they did about the untold suffering caused to the victims, their families, and their friends. Money is fleeting—it gets spent eventually. But the agony of grief is never spent; it goes on and on.
Updated Tuesday, 11/2/21 (episode 5)
I’ve been away on vacation, so just caught up with episode 5 today (episode 6 will be released tomorrow).
Notes from the 5th episode:
The FDA also bears a lot of guilt for their actions and inactions regarding Perdition/Oxy. Is it ironic or typical that the FDA is actually guilty of making things worse regarding the OxyContin scourge? Similar to James Gaius Watt holding the office of Secretary of the Interior and contributing to the destruction of natural resources, it’s a case of the fox guarding the henhouse.
Perdition Pharma was just a large, legal drug cartel. They pushed addictive drugs under the guise that they were benefactors of suffering mankind, but generated far more suffering than they alleviated (while lining their pockets and filling their coffers to overflowing). Of course something that makes people high is going to kill their pain. But at what ultimate cost?
Hoyt Axton wrote “The Pusher Man,” which contains the lyric “God Damn the Pusher Man.” I hope so, too. Literally. But He is the judge, not me. Perdition Pharma should be happy, or at least relieved, that I am not the judge. But perhaps they will be damned regardless. They certainly deserve it, from where I’m sitting.
Updated Wednesday, 11/3/21 (episode 6)
Perdition Pharma and Richard Sack O’Shitler in particular (among many other villains in that company and family) keep looking worse and worse all the time. I didn’t know it was possible to have an even lower opinion of them and more anger toward them than I already did, but this show has accomplished that.
Takeaways from this episode:
These people must be psychopaths. How else can they have knowingly put personal profit ahead of the lives of others?
Lives cut short for luxury. The tragedy brought on families and the tearing apart of communities. Contributing to the breakdown of society. Shifting the blame from themselves to their victims. Heinous, pathetic, vile, obscene, and despicable. God damn the pusher man!
Food, clothing and shelter is sufficient. Everything beyond that is luxury. These people in effect said:
“It is more important that I eat caviar, wear tailored suits, and live in a mansion than that millions of others avoid addiction, agony, and death.”
These monsters incarnate robbed their victims of life, liberty from addiction, and the prospect of even pursuing happiness.
Updated Wednesday, 11/10/21 (episode 7)
This was the most personal of all the episodes (so far, anyway—there’s one more next week).
Dr. Art Van Zee is depicted in it; he’s one of the good ones. I have exchanged email with him a couple or few times over the years.
Also (spoiler alert!), the scene where a policeman informs Betsy’s parents that she has died of an overdose hit very close to home.
Updated Wednesday, 11/17/21 (last episode)
Perdition Pharma and the Sack O’Shitlers really got blasted in this episode. Bravo to those who saw this project through to the finish without pulling punches, and to those who (in real life) helped bring them somewhat to heel.
Still, though, as is brought out in this eighth and last episode, the family are neither incarcerated nor have they been fined to the point of destitution. They should have been stripped of all their money.
As for incarceration, I don’t believe they should be in prison, but that’s only because I don’t believe in imprisoning individuals. As a cruel and unusual punishment, I consider prison to be unconstitutional.
But since what the Sack O’Shitlers perpetrated is even more cruel than denying people their freedom—by orders of magnitude (albeit unfortunately not that unusual)—the only fitting punishment for them is to pay for the hundreds of thousands they killed and an even greater number on whom they have inflicted indescribable anguish, grief, and heartache.
Those vile vermin can’t make such payment in legal tender, though. No amount of money could even come close to making it right. The only way they could even come close to making restitution would be to give their own lives, hundreds of thousands times over. That’s impossible, of course, because after the first time, the second would be impossible.
Bitter? Oh yes, I am. But I give myself a pass. In fact, I give anyone who has lost a child or spouse or parent in such a way a pass to say or do pretty much anything about or to these monsters.
God damn the Pusher man!
Updated Thursday, 12/16/21 (news)
Bravo, Judge McMahon!: