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maryehavens 's review for:
Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones
Woof.
I had to take two book breaks while reading this book because of the heavy subject matter.
It wasn't just the heaviness of addiction and the decimation of the towns, it was the complete frustration of the medical system mechanisms that kept something like opiate use so strong in the first place. It's amazing to me that one policy change or how something is weighted (in this example, pain being considered a 5th vital sign) can completely transform people, cities, etc. It really was a perfect storm of this change, the insurance companies paying for pills but not holistic treatment, and then low level drug cells capitalizing on opiate abuse to sell their heroin that made such a devastating scourge on our country.
I think too that people are a bit wiser when it comes to prescription drugs. There was, and maybe still is, a mentality that doctors know best so you should do exactly what they say and not argue. I think that might be changing a bit or maybe that's just me. Let's hope we are getting a little wiser still with fentanyl and other extremely dangerous drugs.
I know that not everything is solved but Quinones leaves us with some hope at the end with the focus on Portsmouth, Ohio. It's funny: I had a meeting today with a lady who was in Columbus and she showed a pictured with the Scioto River. I almost said "OH! I know about that. That's where all the drug use is". Yep....glad I was on mute.
As for the actual book: Quinones repeats himself, it's easy to get lost with all the names but it's a super deep dive and fascinating if not also terrible because of the subject matter. Glad I read it.
I had to take two book breaks while reading this book because of the heavy subject matter.
It wasn't just the heaviness of addiction and the decimation of the towns, it was the complete frustration of the medical system mechanisms that kept something like opiate use so strong in the first place. It's amazing to me that one policy change or how something is weighted (in this example, pain being considered a 5th vital sign) can completely transform people, cities, etc. It really was a perfect storm of this change, the insurance companies paying for pills but not holistic treatment, and then low level drug cells capitalizing on opiate abuse to sell their heroin that made such a devastating scourge on our country.
I think too that people are a bit wiser when it comes to prescription drugs. There was, and maybe still is, a mentality that doctors know best so you should do exactly what they say and not argue. I think that might be changing a bit or maybe that's just me. Let's hope we are getting a little wiser still with fentanyl and other extremely dangerous drugs.
I know that not everything is solved but Quinones leaves us with some hope at the end with the focus on Portsmouth, Ohio. It's funny: I had a meeting today with a lady who was in Columbus and she showed a pictured with the Scioto River. I almost said "OH! I know about that. That's where all the drug use is". Yep....glad I was on mute.
As for the actual book: Quinones repeats himself, it's easy to get lost with all the names but it's a super deep dive and fascinating if not also terrible because of the subject matter. Glad I read it.