Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origins of America's Opioid Epidemic

(Paperback)

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SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES STARRING UZO ADUBA AND MATTHEW BRODERICK

'This is the book that started it all. Barry Meier is a heroic reporter and Pain Killer is a muckraking classic'

Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain

'Fascinating' New York Times

EVERY CATASTROPHE HAS A BEGINNING. FOR THE OPIOID CRISIS IN AMERICA, THE SEED WAS A DRUG CALLED OXYCONTIN.

First hailed as a miracle drug for severe pain in the early 1990s, OxyContin went on to ignite a plague of addiction and death across America, fuelled by the aggressive marketing of its maker, Purdue Pharma and the billionaire Sackler brothers who owned the company.

Investigative journalist Barry Meier was the first to write about the elusive Sackler family, their role in this catastrophic epidemic and the army of local doctors, law enforcement and worried parents that tried to bring them down. We meet the teenager proud of being the youngest Oxy user she knows at just 16, the local doctor who witnesses his community in the grip of a ferocious epidemic, the three billionaire Sackler brothers, and the government official who made it her mission to hold the company to account.

Part thriller, part medical detective story, this is the origin story of the opioid crisis in America and a rollicking insight into the ways of big pharma and the greed of business that fuelled a national tragedy.

'Groundbreaking . . . Pain Killer is the shocking account of the origins of today's opioid epidemic, the creators of this plague, and the way to help stop it' Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic

Reviews

Groundbreaking . . . Pain Killer is the shocking account of the origins of today's opioid epidemic, the creators of this plague, and the way to help stop it -- Sam Quinones, author of Dreamland: The True Tale of Americas Opiate Epidemic
Fascinating * New York Times *
Prescient . . . a landmark work of investigative journalism -- David A. Kessler, author of The End of Overeating
Powerful . . . [a] page-turning expos * Salon *

Author Bio

Barry Meier is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times investigative reporter. He's twice won the George Polk award for Investigate Reporting. Prior to joining the New York Times in 1989, he worked for the Wall Street Journal and New York Newsday.