I Grew Up In an Area Targeted by Purdue Pharma. Dopesick Isn’t Just a Hulu Show
My first job was for McDonald’s.
On the first day, a boy — older than me, but not by much — was followed into the bathroom by a manager. He bolted from the bathroom with a blue, rubber tourniquet tied around his arm.
He bumped my shoulder as he ran out the main entrance.
He collapsed across the street.
The cops came. Syringes and prescription pill bottles were fished from the trash can.
The store shut down. Someone called his Mama and she came too.
My first day on the job was less McDonald’s protocol and more like a scene from Breaking Bad. I had turned 16 only the day before.
I grew up in real life Dopesick. It wasn’t a gripping drama series manufactured by Hulu about poor coal miners and blue-collar laborers.
To be clear here, it was never about ridding the world of pain. It was always about targeting isolated, impoverished areas — full well knowing OxyContin was a powerfully addictive drug.
They weren’t performing medical miracles. They were creating lifelong customers and taking advantage of folks in Appalachia because they could.
