Dopesick is a blunt and heartbreaking series that reconstructs the worst opioid crisis in U.S. history. The eight-episode drama starring Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosario Dawson and Michael Stuhlbarg deftly illustrates the vast epidemic of addiction that was provoked by the introduction of the painkiller OxyContin in 1996. The production’s creator, Danny Strong gives some context to the events that brought the Purdue Pharma company and members of the Sackler family to justice.
The Hulu limited series examines Purdue Pharma’s development of the painkiller OxyContin, as well as the devastating effects the opioid unleashed over two decades. Dopesick is an incisive look at the pharmaceutical world and the healthcare system that failed to protect consumers. It is noteworthy that this drama is based largely on the non-fiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America by journalist Beth Macy.
Following the trail of the homonymous book, the series interweaves real-life events with some fictional license. Among the narrative mechanisms, Strong presents a set of intimate, absorbing, and deeply difficult stories to address all angles of the healthcare crisis. The story makes use of several plots – with relatively similar narrative weight – that intersect or connect as the epidemic of addicts worsens.
Dopesick begins with some members of the Sackler family on the verge of losing a lucrative patent from their Purdue Pharma company. The drama reveals how in 1996, Richard Sackler (Michael Stuhlbarg), the creator and prime promoter of OxyContin, starts to put pressure on the family pharmaceutical company to multiply the marketing strategies for his new painkiller. “The time has come to redefine the nature of pain”, Richard announces in his first appearance. From this initial image, Dr. Richard Sackler reveals himself as an insatiable and premeditated visionary, capable of transgressing, concealing, and manipulating.
Without wasting any time, Danny Strong’s series exposes the dishonesty and lack of ethics Purdue Pharma employed to market its dangerous product. In this sense, OxyContin was fraudulently commercialized through a misleading narrative. For years, members of the Sackler family, Purdue Pharma executives, and sales representatives promoted OxyContin as a low-risk addictive analgesic, when in fact the opioid’s potential was profoundly devastating. The scenes set in the marketing departments of Purdue Pharma are particularly uncomfortable and Machiavellian.
As well, Dopesick shows that doctors, clinic workers and health officials were getting all kinds of incentives from Purdue Pharma. The company made sure to provide courtesies, tourist trips and meals, among other things. The aggressive national marketing campaign (symposia, review articles, studies, brochures, graphics) spared no expense or gimmick to obtain prescriptions with higher and higher doses. At one point in the series, Richard Sackler declares with corrosive pride that his product is on track to become Purdue Pharma’s most profitable and productive drug; today, it is estimated that the pharmaceutical company earned billions of dollars from the sale of OxyContin.
The charismatic Michael Keaton plays Samuel Finnix, a dedicated medical professional who is unfortunately persuaded by Purdue Pharma to prescribe its “miracle” pill. According to the show’s producers, the character of Dr. Finnix represents the true story of countless doctors who prescribed Oxycontin under the false belief that it was less addictive than other painkillers. Soon enough, Samuel Finnix discovers firsthand that his patients succumb to addiction and die. At one point, he himself becomes addicted. The actor who shone in Batman and Birdman achieves a memorable characterization, marked by emotional and psychological acuity.
Similarly, actress Kaitlyn Dever dominates the heart-wrenching character of Betsy Mallum, a young miner who suffers a work-related accident and turns to Purdue Pharma’s analgesic to relieve the excruciating pain. Like all OxyContin victims, Betsy has no suspicion that the pill prescribed by her family doctor -Samuel Finnix – would mean her descent into the most disturbing dependence. Despite her young age, performer Kaitlyn Dever brings something subtle and profound to every scene.
Throughout the episodes, we discover how people hooked on OxyContin begin to crowd emergency rooms. Dopesick crudely represents the waves of crime, delinquency, child neglect, overdose and death unleashed by this powerful drug.
It should be noted that OxyContin, whose use was to be limited to patients with terminal cancers or individuals undergoing surgery, was prescribed to anyone with moderate, severe or chronic pain. This is how the pharmaceutical company manages to flood the most vulnerable American communities with a painkiller three times more potent than morphine.
Predictably, as OxyContin addiction begins to become a national nightmare, the Department of Justice initiates investigations and legal maneuvers. Both the Attorney General’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seek to intervene and curb the reach of the pharmaceutical company. On the side of the law enforcement, actors Rosario Dawson, Peter Sarsgaard, and John Hoogenakker deal with legal efforts and seek justice against abuses of power.
In this regard, Rosario Dawson brings to life the tenacious deputy director of the DEA, a committed agent who confronts and vigorously challenges the drug’s labeling before government regulators. It is worth explaining that, for many years, Purdue Pharma managed to sell huge quantities of OxyContin under a label that lacked sufficient scientific evidence.
Actors Peter Sarsgaard and John Hoogenakker ably play two real life characters – Assistant U.S. Attorneys: Rick Mountcastle and Randy Ramseyer, respectively – who are charged with building the prosecution against Purdue Pharma, its owners and executives.
Dopesick features impeccable acting, the cast’s performance is robust and heart-pounding. Although the script is non-linear and requires more concentration from the viewer, Danny Strong and his collaborators manage to tell the story with lucidity, fidelity, and dynamism; the decision to break with chronology and direct causality generates a good dose of tension and curiosity.
Hulu’s recent venture is a satisfying social drama. The aesthetic, intellectual, emotional and even didactic aspects are fully covered. About Dopesick, actor Michael Keaton has repeatedly expressed that the true story behind the fiction deserves not to be forgotten and, after 500,000 overdose deaths associated with opioids we are set an important task: we are forbidden to forget.
Image credit: Patrick Strandberg