Hey everyone, Matthew Hemenway here. In this video, I will be discussing DopeSick Episode 2 currently on Hulu. I am impressed so far on how well this series tells you the story of the opioid epidemic. We see Purdue Pharma in their sales meetings with their Sales Representatives telling them to say what is happening with Doctors’ patients saying that if their pain comes back, it is breakthrough pain. They claim that if it is breakthrough pain then you can justify doubling the dose. To me that does not make sense because everything I learned in Health class says that you would not want to do that. I am not talking about Health class in college, I am talking about Health class in High School. Everything I learned in that class back in 1994 to 1998 said that you would not want to do that.
The salesperson at first when he heard that he should double the dose at the meeting wonders if he should do that. The salesperson told him, “Their job is to sale, which means more money for them.” She told him not to worry about the consequences of what may happen. It is the idea that we get rich while we make people suffer.
We meet Michael Keaton’s character of rural doctor in the Appalachian area of the United States. He talks to the salesperson who brought him KFC in the last episode, and he tells him that you need to double the dose of OxyContin. The salesperson tells the doctor what he learned in the meeting about doubling the dose. The salesperson continues buttering up the doctor in trying to have him come to a conference of Purdue Pharma in Scottsdale, Arizona. He goes out to eat with the doctor having him believe that Purdue is on the side of his patients when they are not.
The 2 lawyers are talking to those that were in the Ad campaign for Oxycontin. They found out that the individuals were told to say that it was working wonders when it really was not. We later encounter an individual that lost her job, her home, and her life because of Oxycontin. We found out that she says companies like Purdue Pharma get away with stuff like this. A kid who is poor who sells crack will end up in prison for a long time, while rich companies get richer. It reminds me of the book that I read back in college, The rich get richer, and the poor get prison. In that book it discusses how our criminal justice system is designed to go after the least of these and the most of these get away with high crimes that cost us more. If you are interested in learning more, I will a leave a link on how to read that book. It has 3 options to buy it on Amazon if you are interested.
The DEA agent played by Rosario Dawson went to Kentucky to find out what was going on with OxyContin. She busts a kid who knew of when people came out of the clinic to get their doses of OxyContin. He jumps a person carrying the drug and she intervenes and stops him. She later tells him a story about Washington, DC where she had to live with the crack epidemic in the 1980s. It was a very unpleasant experience. It is something I fortunately have not had to deal with myself. She tells him that he needs to consider a better path and if he stays on this path, he could end up in prison or dead.
The drug Oxycontin creates a euphoric response. Every time the user uses the drug, the user will develop a tolerance to the drug, and they need more. The more dose the individual takes, the more the individual will need. Again, this is stuff that I learned in Health class in High School.
Overall, I give this episode a 9 out of 10. I thought the story was well done and you stayed engaged for the whole episode. If you enjoyed this video, please like it, and subscribe. Please hit the notification bell to be notified of any videos in the future. Please share this video with your friends and family so that my channel can grow. Thank you and have a wonderful day.
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Music: Sonic Pogo-Vans in Japan from YouTube’s audio library
Reference: Dopesick picture: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt9174558/
Reference: Narcotics page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcotic Reference: Drugfree pain relievers-opioids: https://drugfree.org/drugs/prescription-pain-relievers-opioids/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=kp&utm_campaign=opioid Reference: Hulu’s Dopesick series page: https://www.hulu.com/series/dopesick-227de06a-d3d4-42e0-9df1-bb5495e1738d?cmp=11932&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=CM_SEM_Various+Niche+Originals&utm_term=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrJOMBhCZARIsAGEd4VGEf61ZJfVec2Srw5Hu5kgrBrnJ3EVAyU5sK8FbhEWkx-NJMhNS4d4aAmGEEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Reference: The Rich get richer, and the poor get prison: https://smile.amazon.com/Rich-Get-Richer-Poor-Prison/dp/0367231794/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3IRJFZ3OEZCQ7&keywords=the+rich+get+richer+and+the+poor+get+prison&qid=1636386092&sprefix=the+rich+ge%2Caps%2C256&sr=8-2
Dictionary definition of Mularkey: Malarkey | Definition of Malarkey by Merriam-Webster
