A comprehensive portrait of a uniquely American epidemic--devastating in its findings and damning in its conclusions - The opioid epidemic has been described as "one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine." But calling it a mistake is a generous rewriting of the history of greed, corruption, and indifference that pushed the US into consuming more than 80 percent of the world's opioid painkillers. - Journeying through lives and communities wrecked...

"A deep and troubling examination of the dark corners of working-class America, where unemployment and the loss of traditional jobs have produced an epidemic of drug abuse, bigotry, and even suicide, coupled with an urgent plea to rearrange our priorities to address the ills of middle America and emphasize the common good"-- "Is America in a state of irrevocable decline? In this provocative and disturbing examination of our country, Pulitzer Prize-winning...

"A revelatory, moving narrative that offers a harrowing critique of the war on drugs from voices seldom heard in the conversation: drug users who are working on the front lines to reduce overdose deaths"-- In the 1990s, pharmaceutical corporations flooded America with powerful narcotics while lying about their risk. Many patients developed addictions to prescription opioids; then, as access was restricted, waves of people turned to the streets and...

"The opioid epidemic is responsible for the first sustained decline in U.S. life expectancy since the 1960s. In 2016, more than 50,000 Americans died from an opioid overdose -- to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands who live with some measure of opioid addiction every day. The Opioid Epidemic: What Everyone Needs to Know® is an accessible, nonpartisan overview of the causes, politics, and treatments tied to the most devastating health crisis...