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sideshowjill 's review for:
Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones
This is one of the most important books written in the last 20 years.
I can't stress enough how essential this book is to understanding American society today. Quinones tells the story of modern opiate addiction via several narratives. There's the story of the Xalisco Boys, a brilliant criminal enterprise in supplying heroin to many American cities utilizing the eagerness of poor Mexican farm children. There's the story of Purdue Pharmaceutical, a corporation who trained pharma reps with the mantra "opiates aren't addictive" to launch the modern-day OxyContin dependent culture we have. And there's the stories of addicts and the parents of dead addicts.
In the mental health field, opiate addicts are some of the hardest to work with. They're convinced they need these pills for their back/knee/whatever pain. Even when I get the persons with addiction on board with the idea of pain management, there's no coverage for it under Medical Assistance. I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle. It's much easier to pop a pill for pain than it is to make the lifestyle changes, or attend the physical therapy necessary, to manage the pain. Insurance companies don't want to pay for the long-term, just the short-term.
Read this book.
I can't stress enough how essential this book is to understanding American society today. Quinones tells the story of modern opiate addiction via several narratives. There's the story of the Xalisco Boys, a brilliant criminal enterprise in supplying heroin to many American cities utilizing the eagerness of poor Mexican farm children. There's the story of Purdue Pharmaceutical, a corporation who trained pharma reps with the mantra "opiates aren't addictive" to launch the modern-day OxyContin dependent culture we have. And there's the stories of addicts and the parents of dead addicts.
In the mental health field, opiate addicts are some of the hardest to work with. They're convinced they need these pills for their back/knee/whatever pain. Even when I get the persons with addiction on board with the idea of pain management, there's no coverage for it under Medical Assistance. I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle. It's much easier to pop a pill for pain than it is to make the lifestyle changes, or attend the physical therapy necessary, to manage the pain. Insurance companies don't want to pay for the long-term, just the short-term.
Read this book.