After "Nine Perfect Strangers" and "Y Chromosome" hit the street in quick succession, Hulu finally released a big move.
Shoot out the secret behind American capital, and after watching it, absolutely refresh your three views -
Addiction Dose
Dopesick
It's an eight-episode limited-range series based on the bestseller of the same name written by Beth Macy.
It was well received after its launch, with a high score of 8.6 on IMDb.
Probably because the subject audience is small, there are not many fans in China, and there are only 8.7 points marked by 100 people on Douban.
Danny Strong ("Rule Change") is the series operator, with which screenwriter Barry Levinson (Doctor Death) co-directs.
The male protagonist is Michael Keaton, who won the Academy Award nomination for "Birdman", and he plays the old-school doctor Samuel Fennix in the play.
The series directly refers to the famous drug addiction crisis in the United States, the "OxyContin Incident".
The founder of OxyContin, the well-known pharmaceutical giant "Purdue Pharmaceutical Company". From 1999 to 2017, nearly 218,000 people in the United States died from prescription opioid overdoses, resulting in an average of 130 deaths per day.
Eventually, the company went bankrupt by paying $8.3 billion.
Oxycontin, also known as oxycodone hydrochloride extended-release tablets, is also a type of opioid whose main effect is to treat pain and other chronic severe pain in patients with active cancer.
However, since most of the opioid components are extracts of morphine or papaverine, it has strong side effects.
In particular, it can lead to serious problems of substance abuse and addiction, so it should not be used for a long time.
Its owners are one of the richest families in the United States, the Sackler family.
Also known as the "painkiller family", it is worth $14 billion. Relying on the production of the most popular and controversial prescription painkiller of the 21st century, OxyContin, he completed his own road to prosperity.
However, this road is another "blood-stained" business done by the capitalist side.
As a result, tens of millions of innocent people have become addicted and countless people have lost their jobs.
Physically disabled, or dying in pain, or living like a living dead.
The conspiracy began with the expiry of Purdue's "Merccontin" patent, which accounts for 25 percent of their sales.
Once the patent rights are gone, the company is bound to lose a lot.
To that end, the company's successor, Richard, decided to develop a new opioid.
Specifically for the treatment of moderate pain and can be used for a long time.
That is, OxyContin.
Moreover, he insisted that the reason why OxyContin can be used for a long time is because of its low addiction, and less than 1% of people will be addicted to OxyContin!
Hasn't this become a "miracle drug"?
At first, many doctors did not believe that Samuel was one of them.
He was originally a graduate of a prestigious college and had a well-paid and decent job in the heart of the city.
Later, he followed his lover to the countryside and became a township doctor.
Most of his patients were miners, suffering from the pain of falling ill after intense work. But he was adamant not to prescribe opioids to patients unless necessary.
However, the pharmaceutical sales representative pulled out a label issued by the Food and Drug Administration that confirmed that OxyContin tablets were indeed much less addictive than other opioids.
And in the name of thinking about the miners' bodies, "Kind" left a trial bottle.
Samuel was still skeptical until one of his patients found him.
The patient is a 14-year-old girl, Betsy, who is thin and does miner work. She wanted to prove that the job was not only for boys, but also for her father's love.
During a mine job, she accidentally injured her back.
The pain was unbearable and he continued to work, and finally woke up in the middle of the night again to find Dr. Samuel.
Samuel, after examining her injuries, suggested that she stay in bed for a month, but she needed the job to save money and leave with her loved ones, and she couldn't take such a long leave.
Samuel gave Betsy three days of Oshcontin.
At first, OxyContin was very effective for Betsy. She even seemed to be fully recovered, but gradually, she found that the drug could only last for 12 hours, and after that time, it would be painful again.
Samuel reported the situation to the medical representative, but the other party said that the situation was normal. The patient just had a "sudden pain" and the doctor only needed to double the dose.
At the same time, Purdue also informed the pharmaceutical sales representatives that the price of high-powered doses of OxyContin would also be 1-3 times higher than that of ordinary doses.
Their salaries will also rise, motivating them to sell more to doctors.
However, since patients develop resistance, they will soon need to double the dose again to relieve the pain.
From the initial 10 mg, to 20 mg, gradually evolved to 80 mg ...
The consequence of doubling the dose is "addiction".
Betsy slowly realized that she didn't seem to be able to leave OxyContin at all, and once she stopped taking the drug, she would be in a trance.
Chills, vomiting, and the whole person is out of control.
In such a situation, she had no way to concentrate. As a result, the mine exploded, injuring many people and she was admitted to the hospital.
People with the same conditions as Betsy abound, and more and more regions are finding similar conditions.
In order to sell sales, Purdue once again launched "personalized doses".
Depending on the varying degrees of pain, ask the doctor to prescribe various large doses of OxyContin for the patient. Instead of starting with the most basic 10 mg, you can directly prescribe a dose of 20 mg or higher.
Slowly, OxyContin infiltrated from rural clinics to major urban central hospitals.
More and more people are starting to use OxyContin, which gradually replaces other opioids, and more and more people are addicted to it.
The result is a rampant series of serious crimes such as theft, robbery, selling Y and abandonment.
Prisons are overcrowded, and even more alarmingly, the drug has begun to flourish in schools, and countless minors have taken pleasure in snorting Oshicontin.
Based on this situation, the prosecution began to target Purdue Pharmaceutical Company.
After investigation, they found that the company's sale of OxyContin drugs can be said to be an elaborate scam.
First, almost all cases of OxyContin were related to the drug in three years since its release.
Violent crime abounds, and many robbers rush into pharmacies just to seize OxyContin;
Second, during that time there was always a drug propaganda film about OxyContin on TV.
In the picture, there are some patients who have been treated with drugs.
They praised the drug as effective, but strangely none of them mentioned OxyContin, but instead used "painkillers," "drug therapies," or "extended-release tablets."
After inquiry, I learned that this was originally a public welfare propaganda film.
However, the follow-up was changed to OxyContin's publicity advertisement, and those patients also had different degrees of body damage after taking the drug;
Moreover, the staff of the Food and Drug Administration, who once issued special labels to OxyContin, have also been hindered by some unspeakable obstacles before.
After the listing of OxyContin, the Food and Drug Administration resigned and went to Purdue;
Finally, Purdue's medical representatives have been threatening and intimidating the pharmacy to sell OxyContin, luring doctors to increase the dose of patients...
All these acts indicate that Purdue has a ghost and OxyContin has a problem.
However, it is not easy to bring down such a huge company.
They are rich and wealthy, not only doing charity all year round, but also funding many pain management organizations such as the National Pain Treatment Foundation and the American Chronic Pain Association, and selling OxyContin to the public with their mouths.
And they're good at throwing pots and blaming the patients for their addictive behavior.
Even if there is an appeal, they will always be the winner...
"Addiction Dose" has been updated for 3 episodes at present, and as an 8-episode limited drama, the plot completion is still very high.
There are two main timelines, one is the confrontation between the prosecution and Purdue in court, and the other is the order of OxyContin's offering.
Although the two lines are interspersed, the editing has no discomfort at all, but it can help the audience sort out the context.
In fact, as mentioned at the beginning, the "OxyContin Incident" has an end on October 21, 2020, when U.S. Deputy Attorney Jeffrey Rosen claimed, "In the global settlement announced today, Purdue Pharmaceuticals admitted to committing three felonies (including deception and violations of federal anti-kickback laws) between 2009 and 2017."
In addition to the three felonies, the company agreed to pay $3.544 billion in criminal fines and $2 billion in criminal forfeitures, in addition to $2.8 billion in civil fines. ”
In the end, Purdue Pharmaceuticals pleaded guilty to a triple crime, accepted a high compensation of about 54.5 billion yuan, and declared bankruptcy.
Purdue Pharmaceuticals also becomes opioids, and defeats also opioids.
Capital victims end up being punished as they deserve, but even that is not enough to comfort people, after all, there are countless people who suffer because of them.
Ordinary people see this news, or they may just sigh and cross it at random.
However, what happens behind this news is rarely understood in detail, which is why it is recommended that everyone watch "Addiction Dose". Only by understanding the story behind it can we better understand the extreme sin of the capital side eating human blood steamed buns.
It's a good habit to like it!