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American Overdose
American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts | Chris McGreal
A devastating portrait of the opioid epidemic, a uniquely American and catastrophically lethal tragedy born of Congressional neglect, amplified by corporate greed, and brutally exploited by illegal drug cartels. The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history; it results in 90 American deaths a day and has eviscerated communities across the country. It is a consequence of a healthcare system run as a business, one that prescribed drugs with unprecedented amounts of oxycodone to patients experiencing everything from toothaches to severe chronic pain. The practice created a culture of addiction in towns and cities from Florida to Maine and throughout Appalachia and the American West. In American Overdose, Chris McGreal outlines the three main stories of the opioid epidemic: first, the negligent policies that allowed the greed and corruption of big pharma to profit off the suffering of their patients and new evidence on the FDA's complicity in the matter; second, the widespread addiction that ravaged American towns and cities; and finally, the even more devastating arrival of the drug cartels who deliberately and catastrophically exploited the market for addiction that has been created. Through the lives of doctors, addicts, policy-makers, pharmaceutical reps, and family members, McGreal tells two parallel stories: that of the rise of opioids in the healthcare system and the personal stories of those affected on the ground, joined in what a former member of the FDA has called "one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine."
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Spainman75
Pickpick

Everyone should read this. Investigative research that uncovers the culprits behind the opioid epidemic.

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Alisnazzy
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Books and softball. #LivingMyBestLife

rockpools Enjoy it! (And great to see you 🌞) 5y
CoffeeNBooks Welcome back to Litsy! 📚 5y
TrishB Hi 🙋‍♀️ 5y
See All 12 Comments
Jas16 Welcome back! 5y
Lcsmcat Glad you‘re back! 5y
wildwoodreads Welcome back! That was an intense game! 5y
tjwill Good to see you on Litsy! 💕 5y
SaturnDoo Good to see you back 😍😍😍🤗🤗🤗❤❤❤ 5y
CouronneDhiver 👋🏽👋🏽 5y
DebReads4fun Welcome back! 5y
rabbitprincess Welcome back! ♥️♥️😊 5y
NovelGirl82 Yes!!! Someone else watching softball!!! Welcome back!!! 5y
97 likes12 comments
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CocoReads
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Can anyone spell recipe for disaster? Riveting reading for work. Actually, it‘s not bad but I‘ve got a headache (work related) and am totally over today.

AceOnRoam Hope you are feeling better soon 🤕 5y
CocoReads @acesonroam i predict I‘ll immediately feel better as soon as I get out of here. 1.5 hours to go 5y
43 likes2 comments
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

Right after I finished this book, I saw my orthopedist for an ankle injury that isn‘t healing. First thing I said was, “I am not interested in opiates!”

Anyway, this is another well rounded book on the opiate epidemic. There‘s less emphasis on personal stories and more emphasis on corporate/governmental actors. The narrator is excellent! 4.5⭐️

@SW-T Has fantastic suggestions of books about this crisis on her page. 👍🏻📚

More #audiocoloring 😁

SW-T Thanks for the mention and love the colors you picked for your #audiocoloring 😊 5y
Megabooks @SW-T You‘re welcome and thank you! That‘s what I enjoy most about this iPad program - the large choice of color palettes, getting to experiment with them, and create your own. 5y
readordierachel Love the coloring! Sorry to hear about your ankle though 😔 5y
Megabooks @readordierachel Thank you! I got an mri yesterday, so hopefully I‘ll get some answers! (edited) 5y
89 likes4 comments
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Megabooks
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This chapter is crazy! 🤯 I haven‘t heard this particular part of the story before. It‘s about IMPACT, a program designed by two (crooked) academic, opinion-leader doctors for drug companies to pay to sit down with the FDA and hand design studies to approve more opioids. 😡😡😡 They used a program called “enriched enrollment” that screened out of studies people likely to become addicts, making FDA approval easier. 😡😡😡

Julsmarshall The book I‘m reading right now about the opioid crisis mentions this too. unconscionable! 5y
Megabooks @Bookwormjillk Yes! Definitely angry! 5y
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Megabooks @Julsmarshall It really is. Smdh! 5y
ShyBookOwl Wooow 5y
Megabooks @ShyBookOwl I‘m not generally a conspiracy theorist, but there‘s something very foul. 5y
SW-T When it comes to profits people will do a lot of foul things. There used to be a website where you could look up your doctors to see who was getting reimbursed by pharmaceutical companies to push certain meds. Another informative book was (edited) 5y
Megabooks @SW-T That‘s the book I‘m reading. Did you mean to tag another? I‘m always interested in finding more on this subject! 5y
Megabooks @SW-T Haven‘t read that! #stacked Thanks! 5y
ChasingOm I‘ve heard these two are great too — they‘re next on my list: 5y
Megabooks @ChasingOm I haven‘t read Chasing the Scream, but I have read Dopesick twice, and it‘s good. My favorite is still this one. I‘ll add CtS to my TBR! 5y
Megabooks @ChasingOm I just checked, and I have chasing the scream on audible, so I‘ll move it up! 👍🏻 5y
106 likes4 stack adds14 comments
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Megabooks
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Just started this #audiobook to alternate with The Nix. Idk why I find the opiate epidemic so fascinating, but I guess we all have our things. 🤷🏻‍♀️

KathyWheeler We do all have our things; I read a lot about white supremacy groups, for instance. 😊 5y
ChasingOm I‘m reading this one in print! 5y
emilyhaldi Have you read this yet?? 5y
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Megabooks @KathyWheeler Interesting. I used to watch Gangland on A&E, and they had several white supremacist gangs. It was a good show. 5y
Megabooks @ChasingOm 👍🏻👍🏻 what do you think? I‘m on chapter 2 now. 5y
Megabooks @emilyhaldi I tried to when it came out last year. It ended up being a hard bail/maybe come back to at about 50%. I think I may enjoy it more audio if there‘s good narration. 🤔 5y
Amiable Ha, we must be breathing the same bookish air —I literally just finished reading both “American Overdose” and “The Nix”! 😀 5y
ChasingOm I live in WV, so this is very close to home for me (I‘ve even seen a name or two and said “hey, I know them!”). To be honest, it‘s a very frustrating book — but it‘s because of the subject matter, not the book itself! 5y
Megabooks @Amiable I guess so! 😁😁👍🏻🥂 5y
Megabooks @ChasingOm Yes, I agree re: book. Crazy that you know people! I‘m from Kentucky, but there is still more meth in W. Kentucky than heroin. At least according to my friend the family court judge. 😢 (edited) 5y
85 likes2 stack adds10 comments
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Amiable
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Pickpick

Completed for the “something I saw on Litsy” category in the #nonfiction2019 challenge. Good information about the history of the opioid epidemic in the U.S., but the snarky political asides throughout the book were annoying and distracting. Still recommend, though.

@Riveted_Reader_Melissa

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Great progress!! 5y
62 likes1 comment
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executivespooky
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Pickpick

Gigi pictured to offset depressing book feels.

Alright, here we go. This book is incredible. McGreal does a great job of reporting a complex, long-lived public health crisis that we all know of, but probably know very little about. He takes legalities and makes them interesting, enticing. My heart breaks for the victims, it truly is a tragedy. Chris is relatively objective and it's clear to see who is in the wrong, even without the emotion.

BookishMarginalia Gigi is adorable! 5y
executivespooky @BookishMarginalia I'll tell her you said so 😅 she's very chatty, so I'm sure she'll have a response for you! 5y
33 likes2 comments
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executivespooky
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My foster got adopted on Saturday and we all miss him a lot, sadly including one of my cats that got used to playing with him 😢

booklahoma That is sad. 😞 But yay for cats being adopted and the wonderful people that foster them in the meantime! 5y
executivespooky @booklahoma yeah, he was adopted by a friend of mine, so I know he's in a good home and can bug her for updates on my boy 💖 5y
AmyG How wonderful that you foster! 💕 5y
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Purrfectpages Bittersweet for sure 5y
executivespooky @Purrfectpages didn't cry when it was time to say goodbye though!! 5y
BookNAround We foster failed our kitten. There was no way I was going to be strong enough to let him go. I‘m working up the courage to try fostering again (I was so sad when our first foster went home—the kitten was only our second attempt). 5y
executivespooky @BookNAround he was my first, I'm shocked I didn't keep him. Lord knows I wanted to, he's got such a cool personality. Luckily he went to a friend, so I can keep up with his life. You can do it! Just think of all the lives you can help save! 5y
28 likes7 comments
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executivespooky
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Heavy topics require a kitty to lighten the mood.

BookwormAHN Cute kitty 💚 5y
24 likes1 comment
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CoffeeK8
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Pickpick

This book is heartbreaking and angering. The way the opioid drug companies allowed so many lives to be destroyed in the name of profit is so sad. A pick, but a hard read. #audiobook

Christine I keep thinking about how nuts it is that a drug company could have the level of influence to get the concept of pain as the “fifth vital sign” to be adopted so widely - so, so crazy to me. 5y
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Christine
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Pickpick

Ugh. So, so depressing, but a good, well-written book. I‘ve read quite a bit about the opioid crisis, but this had plenty of new-to-me (and enraging!) details about its origins. I appreciated the depth of the personal stories of those who‘ve suffered from opioid addiction and their loved ones.

CouronneDhiver Stacked! 5y
44 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Kristy_K
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Pickpick

If you want to be infuriated w/pharma comps, the gov, &drs, then read this book. The blatant way they ignore or twist data &warnings &succumb 2 greed is largely the reason there‘s an opioid epidemic in US. Those few doctors who stood up 2 them &pointed out the harm &addictiveness of opioids were quickly dismissed &sometimes had active smear campaigns against them. This book looks largely at the crisis in W. Virginia &takes you to present.

#arc

CoverToCoverGirl So, so sad 😭 5y
Kristy_K @CoverToCoverGirl It really was! 5y
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ChasingOm
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Any WV Littens planning to see this author speak in Charleston at Taylor Books on Friday evening? I‘m only about a third of the way through the book, but I‘m sure it would be fascinating/infuriating to hear Chris McGreal talk about his research and meetings with the families in the book.

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SW-T
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Pickpick

A targeted look at how the US came to consume more than 80% of the world‘s opioid painkillers. In a profit driven health system, making money trumps everything else. Informative, though dry, read. Divided into three sections, the book looks at politicians, pharmaceutical companies, consumers, healthcare, and history. Very briefly touched on race and class in the public shift in perception from punishing deviants to sympathy for addicts.

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SW-T
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In trying to combat OxyContin, drugs like heroine and fentanyl flooded the market. As they say, good intentions can often lead to unintended consequences.

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Ashley_Nicoletto
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Pickpick

If you live in the US there‘s a strong chance you know someone that is or has been addicted to opioids. It‘s been deemed an epidemic, but often the addicted don‘t realize they are addicted until it‘s to late. There‘s a stigma that if the doctor prescribed the medication it must be safe. And that is why I feel this is such an important read. Educate yourself, your friends, your family. Opioids are terrifying stuff.

88 likes7 stack adds
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Ashley_Nicoletto
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Impatiently waiting for Friday. 🎉

nudibranch YES. 5y
CouronneDhiver Me too! 5y
86 likes2 comments
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Ashley_Nicoletto
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We celebrate really hard.

Happy New Year friends!

valeriegeary This looks perfect! 5y
wanderinglynn Aw! ❤️🐶 5y
Melissa_J That‘s my kind of celebrating! 5y
See All 6 Comments
Redwritinghood Happy New Year! 🎉🎉🥳🥳 5y
Crazeedi Sweet puppy!😊 5y
Bookzombie Happy New Year!🎆 🎉 5y
65 likes6 comments
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Ashley_Nicoletto
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Took a quick lunch break today for this book, coffee, and Bailey pets.

JenReadsAlot This book really pissed me off! I hope everyone reads it.... 5y
Ashley_Nicoletto @JenReadsAlot I debated not reading it and I picked it up anyway and now I can‘t put it down. It definitely needs to be widely read. It‘s so important and it pisses me off as well. 5y
70 likes2 comments
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SW-T
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#SundayFunDay @sebrittain

Read more international authors
Balance nonfiction and fiction reads
Enjoy my reading journey

sebrittainclark ❤🎉❤🎉❤ 5y
14 likes1 comment
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Redwritinghood
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Pickpick

I was riveted by this account of the start and spread of the opioid epidemic and how it has helped fuel the rise of heroin and fentanyl. McGreal deftly deals with the complicated mix of players from the pharma companies to unscrupulous physicians, corrupt police and politicians, and failed government oversight. He highlights the hazards of a government that bends more to corporate interests instead of protecting the public health. 5⭐️

ClairesReads Sounds really interesting Jerrie 5y
RohitSawant Great review! 5y
74 likes8 stack adds2 comments
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balletbookworm
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Pickpick

I haven't read Dreamland or Dope Sick yet (on the TBR, I swear) but my first dive into books about the opioid crisis made me Very Angry. All the systems that are supposed to prevent problems like this failed us because Capitalism and Political Lobbying (like, WTF, do people not understand what a Conflict of Interest is???). Also, an extremely concerning disregard of actual science by scientists and physicians.

balletbookworm (Photo of my note about the first thing in this book that made me ragey) (edited) 5y
Caterina I've just moved to the county with the most opioid overdoses brought to the ER in North Carolina, which has made me much more aware of this issue, and this book sounds like a good way to learn more! (And get angry. Evicted by Matthew Desmond made me very angry too.) 5y
16 likes1 stack add2 comments
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balletbookworm
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The misrepresentation of data and lack of scientific rigor behind the drive to change opioid policy in the 1990s is making my hair stand on end.

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AndjoSant
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Pickpick

Documenting the severity of the opioid crisis in southern West Virginia, “American Overdose” highlights the failure of big pharma & the complicity of the FDA in an epidemic that claims more lives than road accidents in the US. A sobering read #opioid #americanoverdose

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JenReadsAlot
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Starting my first #netgalley read!

27 likes3 stack adds
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TiredLibrarian
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I just started another book about the opioid crisis; this is an ARC from NetGalley. Just a little light reading 😕😉 #nonfiction #drugs #opioids #addiction

65 likes1 stack add