Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

by Beth Macy

Until we understand how we reached this place, America will remain a country where getting addicted is far easier than securing treatment.

The opioid epidemic is an urban story, a suburban story, and a rural story,

Bickel went on to scientifically quantify the indifference of the typical opioid user, comparing the average nonaddicted person’s perception of the future—calculated to be 4.7 years—against an addicted user’s idea of the future, which is just nine days.

the legal and medical structures meant to combat America’s heroin epidemic were woefully disconnected, often at odds with one another, and full of unintended consequences.

Fewer than one-quarter of heroin addicts who receive abstinence-only counseling and support remain clean two or more years. The recovery rate is higher, roughly 40 to 60 percent, among those who get counseling, support group, and medication-assisted treatment such as methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone.