Dopesick is essential viewing

And one of the few shows helping me make sense of widespread pain.

Five episodes into Hulu’s Dopesick¹ and I am fully on board. Not to be confused with Netflix shows Lovesick or Dope, this fictionalized limited series details the 1996 creation, distribution, and widespread addiction to OxyContin ("Oxy") as it becomes one the most abused pharmaceuticals in U.S. history, based on a non-fiction book by journalist Beth Macy.

If you had asked me before viewing, I might have known Oxy as an opioid, one among many in the hands of folks in pain and over-prescribed by doctors, but I had no idea to what extent Purdue Pharma manipulated and lied their way to the "success" of this drug in the mainstream pharmaceutical market. The pilot makes sure you know how hard they pushed their slogan: "less than 1% get addicted to OxyContin." Every episode of the show is engrossing, and the way it unravels brings to mind the investigative thrust of films like Spotlight. I was gagged, to say the least.

It’s been weird not seeing any buzz about it. I would pick Dopesick over a miniseries like The Undoing any day of the week.