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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
The cast of characters in this sad chronicle of the prescription drug and (related) heroin epidemic in the US would make even George R.R. Martin's head spin. Only a few are recurring and central to the story, while the others are intended to illustrate how many different facets there are to this problem. It's a crazy collection of stories, crazier still for how many of them are relatable. The author does a great job of deliberately and very clearly showing how misinformation and overeager marketing contributed first to a flood of strong prescription drugs, followed by physician abuse (intentional and unintentional), followed by heroin dealers filling the void left when money for prescriptions ran out. Not an uplifting book by any means, but an important one to read.
This book really resonates with me as a future healthcare provider. When do we treat pain? When do we not treat pain? How can we really deny someone the relief of pain when it may possibly lead to a drug addiction?
The way the author describes it is so true: "Slave to the Morphine molecule"
I never knew that narcotic pain killers were cousins of heroine until I started working in the healthcare field. I worked in a surgery office where post-op care included a lot of narcotic prescriptions which is NORMAL and INDICATED for after surgery pain relief. What I didn't know was the real extent of drug addiction. I was so ignorant to the fact that narcotic drug abuse existed until I worked in that office.
This book opened my eyes to the beginnings of narcotic drug abuse, as well as heroine abuse. It's insane how the 2 can be related. What also is crazy, is the fact that many corrupt doctors contributed to the "Pill Mill" offices that fueled the fire of rampant narcotic abuse.
Treating pain is something that seems so easy to do because it can easily be relieved by a generic pain medication prescription. The last thing I want to do is a healthcare provider is to cause drug addiction. It's such a double edged sword.
I also learned about the beginnings of "Palliative Care" which is different from hospice care. It is a medical specialty that helps patients with the physical pain, stress and mental pain that one might go through in ANY diagnosis.
Overall, it is an incredible narrative that discusses the history of narcotic drug abuse. I want this is required reading for anyone and especially for students going into the medical field.
The way the author describes it is so true: "Slave to the Morphine molecule"
I never knew that narcotic pain killers were cousins of heroine until I started working in the healthcare field. I worked in a surgery office where post-op care included a lot of narcotic prescriptions which is NORMAL and INDICATED for after surgery pain relief. What I didn't know was the real extent of drug addiction. I was so ignorant to the fact that narcotic drug abuse existed until I worked in that office.
This book opened my eyes to the beginnings of narcotic drug abuse, as well as heroine abuse. It's insane how the 2 can be related. What also is crazy, is the fact that many corrupt doctors contributed to the "Pill Mill" offices that fueled the fire of rampant narcotic abuse.
Treating pain is something that seems so easy to do because it can easily be relieved by a generic pain medication prescription. The last thing I want to do is a healthcare provider is to cause drug addiction. It's such a double edged sword.
I also learned about the beginnings of "Palliative Care" which is different from hospice care. It is a medical specialty that helps patients with the physical pain, stress and mental pain that one might go through in ANY diagnosis.
Overall, it is an incredible narrative that discusses the history of narcotic drug abuse. I want this is required reading for anyone and especially for students going into the medical field.
Very interesting but god it could be much shorter. I had the feeling multiple times that I was stuck in a time loop and was reading the same thing.
Accidentally listened to this YA version. Guess I can't critique it for not being comprehensive enough. Oops
A fascinating look at how legal and illegal drug systems overlap to trap customers, and create and maintain addicts. Using Dreamland and Portsmouth as a focal points helps to ground the data through the downward spiral and the hard fought (and ongoing) recovery. Also appreciated the thoughtfulness in applying context to both the Pain Revolution and the Nayarit cells, when it would be easy to write them both as ignorant and/or evil. One note: there’s a very brief mention of the Sinaloa and Zeta cartels territory war towards the end of the book and the Nayarit clans fleeing to Guadalajara- it would have been helpful to have more discussion about that, as I’m not sure if that meant the Nayarit cells were absorbed by the Zetas or they stopped production entirely, which would lead to two very different outcomes in the black tar heroin trade, but understand that wasn’t necessarily the purpose of this book. Overall, a very important and very worthwhile read.
While Empire of Pain was a deep-dive into one cause of the opiate epidemic, this book goes wide to show all the different players from rural Mexican rancheros selling balloons of black tar heroin to pill mill doctors writing scripts at $200 a visit to the unfortunate doctor who unintentionally led the medical community to believe opiates weren't addictive. It's an engaging read and will certainly leave you with a good understanding of not only how opiate epidemic happened but also how the drug trade works.
3.4 stars. Couldn't make myself round up in the end. The topic is deep and important, and the direct research on the Xalisco boys is impressive, but the rest of the journalism is underwhelming (painting shallow portraits of too many characters, few of whom we see for more than a few pages). The writing is occasionally wonderful, occasionally woeful, and mostly very repetitive (with a particular gang's method of heroin dealing summarized seven or eight times in 300 pages). More than a few sentences seem to have been missed by the editors, and the layout and structure make very little sense (loosely chronological, but constantly switching between dealers and addicts and doctors and parents and back to dealers, with no way for a reader to find footing).
If you want to read about opiates, skim this in a bookstore and look for a 20-page journalistic article somewhere. If you want a great book about drugs and drug policy (and the misuse of both), try [b:Chasing the Scream|22245552|Chasing the Scream The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs|Johann Hari|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1416448118s/22245552.jpg|41620487].
If you want to read about opiates, skim this in a bookstore and look for a 20-page journalistic article somewhere. If you want a great book about drugs and drug policy (and the misuse of both), try [b:Chasing the Scream|22245552|Chasing the Scream The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs|Johann Hari|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1416448118s/22245552.jpg|41620487].
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced