Perdue Pharma could and should be considered one of the most notorious serial killers. It is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, the life-long addictions and pain of thousands of people and the opioid crisis that is currently ongoing.
In Beth Macy’s book “Dope Sick,” the world gets a cultivated view at just how dangerous the drug Oxycontin is, especially in the hollers and hills of Appalachia. What the book doesn’t show you is the first person view of how a billion dollar pharmaceutical company knowingly and willingly addicted poor, working class people from the forgotten places of Appalachia to their drug.
In Appalachia, coal mining is more than just an income, it’s a source of pride and often the only profession a man has available. It is a well-known saying through this area that “coal keeps the lights on,” and, for us, this saying is beyond true.
It’s something we, the small, close-knit people of Appalachia, do for the rest of the country. McDowell County in West Virginia was responsible for providing more coal than anywhere else in the United States. What most people don’t see are the broken backs, the black lungs, the breathing issues, the inevitable cancer, all that comes from working in the mines. Often, a miner will only seek out a doctor if he gets hurt, and it’s often that they get hurt.
Oxycontin, was sent through the FDA as a non-addictive opioid, which is not only a lie, but another reason that the deceit of a company caused so much catastrophe. It allowed people to take medicine under the false, FDA advertised, belief that this drug, an opioid, was non-addictive.
The reality? Oxycontin is not only highly addictive but has been compared to that of legal heroin in a pill. For those who have been working in jobs, like the mines, where they are constantly hurt and in pain, these drugs were sent as a savior.
The reality is that addiction started the moment they started taking them.
This is part one to a series written and contributed by Gracie Carter.
