I didn't think this series would effect me so hard. I cried and cried throughout it. This series was my life! I am now 12 years clean after going through years of opioid addiction. Watching the scenes with them going through withdraw were the hardest bc I have been there and that was a way of life in during my addiction. Your day consists of how can I get more pills so I don't get sick and at that point the pills don't even make you high anymore your just taking them to be able to function. This was one of the best shows that really show how devastatingly painful and scary withdraw is. Im thrilled that they shined a light on pardue and other big Parma companies in this. My addiction started with going to the Dr for endometriosis. Nobody told me back then that you could get addicted. First time you go into withdraw you don't even know that is what is happening to you. Sad thing is, is once your heavily addicted doctors turn their back on you and society looks at you like you're a piece of cr@p. So very very sad. Everyone should watch this series!
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teenydutton28 October 2021
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lhollan3 November 2021The sad truth is that this phenomenal story of a network of corporate deceipt is based in reality. This series will take awards in multiple categories, including best series, multiple acting nominations, editing, and screen writing. Michael Keaton has pulled together the story of the century here, and the story line is written in a way where this complex, multi-layered travesty is exposed clearly and cleanly. This is streaming at its best.
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tjnesheim30 October 2021This so clearly explains why my husband was given OxyContin after breaking his back. The dose initially helped, then it didn't. The doctor quickly increased his dosage. This continued to happen until he was at 100mg. At that point, the doctors are only drug dealers. I wrote letters to my husband's doctor explaining he was semi conscious on a good day. It all fell on deaf ears and this series explains why. I almost lost my husband, I lost the marriage I knew and he lost all respect from his daughters. Fortunately, he was arrested for a DUI, without harming anyone. I made him plead guilty, so he could experience every thing he had risked. That was his rock bottom. He has been off OxyContin for almost 5 years. Yet doctors are still trying to prescribe OxyContin for his chronic pain. I hope this series helps everyone see OxyContin is a horribly addictive and ineffective pain medication.
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npvarley29 October 2021This series does a great job of showing the complicity of big pharma, FDA and politicians in the opioid crisis.
Many reviewers are not quite getting the point: OxyContin was addictive and the FDA failed to properly test the drug before allowing Purdue to write their own label, basically. Once they started bumping up dosage for counter the totally fake "breakthrough pain" nonsense, it created a whole army of addicts. That led to an increase in crime to obtain opiates, either more Oxy or even heroin.
The series nails Purdue to the floor good and proper. The Sacklers come across as a repugnant family who can't even get on with each other.
The acting is top-notch and the cinematography is also excellent. The timeline jumping around can be a bit confusing if you don't pay attention, but it's nothing too onerous.
All in all, a great watch that tells a shocking story of greed and corruption. -
Marwan-Bob26 November 2021One of the best Miniseries of the year if not the decade, i didn't want it to end, Extremely well Acted, Nicely Produced and flawlessly Directed. An Absolute Must See.
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six256117 October 2021One thing that many of the negative reviewers forget when they go on their current-day diatribes about big pharm is that this movie STARTS over 20 years ago. Pharmaceuticals weren't as they are today. It shows how the door was allowed to open, causing this country to be in the situation we're in today with the Big Parm and incessant pill pushing. MONEY TALKS. Nothing else matters. Not the FDA, CDC, you name the letters. $$$ This method of running a planet needs to stop!
Michael Keaton is, as always, very good. We are blessed that he came back to doing what he does best. This series is honest, emotional, raw, sad and frightening. Do the one month free subscription to HULU and watch it. (and Only Murders in the Building. But that's another review :) -
RobTheWatcher5 December 2021A really well done series that feels like a perfect reenactment that meets docu series. It was interesting and captured the entire story while still having its own style and great acting.
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payasoingenioso11 November 2021I do not like to watch many dramas, but I knew this would be important.
Ignore the low reviews if you agree Big Pharma is the business of staying in business, even if it means death or addiction.
From Danny Strong to Kaitlyn Dever to Rosario Dawson, this cast is excellent.
The episodes and timelines are confusing to me. That did not discourage me from learning more about the Real Drug War.
The variety of oxycontin victim backgrounds is solid as well.
I hope this show wins awards and informs many of pharmaceutical addiction and death. -
deloudelouvain29 June 2022Although Dopesick isn't entirely non-fictional everybody knows by now what devastating ravages Oxycontin did in the daily lives of millions of Americans. It's the cancer under the opioids, easy to get and extremely addictive. This show is based on a non-fictional book, but the characters are most of the time fictional. That said Dopesick is a quality show, very well made, with tons of very good actors, and a story that keeps you wanting for more. Without spoiling anything you secretly hope those big pharmaceutical companies will get stopped but the reality like we all know by now is that they're untouchable and that's only the fault of a corrupt American system, like the FDA, the CDC, and many judges. The whole system there is rotten to the bone, too much money is going from hand to hand, from rich to richer, and it's not the common people that will change anything about that. Thankfully there are people fighting the system but except a few dents they will never break down that wall of corruption. America is sick, the whole world sees it, and nobody cares. Great show, great acting, very addictive to watch.
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tfp-155763 November 2021Very well done and another example of how messed up the medical system in the US really is in almost every area. Overun with lawyers, charlatans, liars, cheats and thieves. ALthough not specific to just big pharma it also shows again the incestuous relationship between the 1% and the governing bodies. Whether its lobbying,marketing or whatever else they call it this decade, the corruption is totally embedded within our system. The movie is a teaser, go look at the real investigations for an even more worrying story.
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danielcereto28 December 2021Firstly, this mini series shows the cruel reality of our society. It shows how the Legal Drug Lords aka Pharmaceutical, sell poison to people who suffers from pain. The message is real and clear.
Second, drugs can relieve the pain, but not your soul. It's only temporal and with the time, you will need more and more. The more you take pills, the better for pharmaceutical industries.
Last, this mini series is a must to understand how Pharmaceutical bussines only wants to monetize your pain. They don't care about healing your soul.
Great mini series. Great acting. Real story. A must. Time to wake up and stop the over use of pills. -
info-8080721 March 2022This is an important story to tell, and the series tells it very well. The acting and parts of the script are very strong. But, I felt at times that it got a little too "Lifetime Channel" for my taste. There were a few too many digressions into romantic & personal lives that slowed the story down. But, it's necessary viewing for anyone who ever has to visit a doctor.
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supernatural-4252621 August 2022I was really enjoying this show, despite the "woke" things that some of the negative reviews pointed out. It was engaging and I cared about what happened to the characters, which is hard to find in many recently created TV shows.
However, I have a real problem with the last two episodes. Mild spoilers ahead.
Michael Keaton, after going to a methadone clinic and seeing moderate success, decides to try a brand new "wonder drug" to cure his addiction, Suboxone. This wonder drug is so effective, he not only recommends it to everyone he knows, but goes out of his way to take other addicts to the clinic and get them prescriptions.
He even has such honest quotes as, "I am finally getting my brain back." "I feel just like I did before." and other similar quotes.
Now, I am not arguing that Suboxone has not helped addicts recover--I believe that it has, and has also saved lives.
But this promotion of a BRAND NAME drug, especially pretending as if it's a perfect medication and never mentioning side effects, seemed a little strange to me.
So off to Google I went. Mostly to see who manufactured the drug, and if they funded the show. While I didn't find any information about whether or not they did, I did find some interesting facts about Suboxone.
Did you know the manufacturer of Suboxone were fined $1.4 billion dollars over illegal marketing? It was the largest settlement for an opioid product in US history, at least until Purdue lost their case for $8 billion.
The DOJ claimed that they pushed doctors to "overprescribe Suboxone to more patients than allowed by federal law, in higher doses, and in a careless and clinically unwarranted manner". Suboxone was also marketed as a "safer and less addictive substance compared to similar drugs containing buprenorphine".
Wow... That sounds EXACTLY like what the entire show is about--literally. It was so wrong and terrible of Purdue Pharma to overprescribe large doses of OxyContin, but the producers of the show don't seem to mind when Reckitt Benckiser does it for Suboxone.
They do mention in passing that Michael Keaton's character won't be able to pass a drug test on it, but they ignore the fact that this drug is ALSO a narcotic. It can also be abused and used to get high when taken recreationally.
Again, I do believe people have been helped by Suboxone. I just have a huge problem with this show promoting it in this manner. It's unethical and literally the exact same thing they show Purdue doing. -
Ottodane9 November 2021I am a recovering heroin addict, who started with Percocet because of an injury, and very soon found myself on OxyContin. This show is unlike any other in it's portrayal of addiction. Withdrawals in particular are shown here in great deal where most shows barely touch on it if at all. They just nail everything. Every plot line is so well written and acted as well as informative. Just a great show all around it will blow your mind it's a true story at times. 10 stars from me.
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thunderroad-501-9935943 November 2021I'm a pharmacist and lived through the events depicted. I've been amazed how factual this series is. All that stuff that Purdue Pharma reps told doctors and pharmacists-so many well-designed lies-and we fell for them. The pill mills in Florida that the DEA ignored for too long, the pharmacy robberies, etc. I'm very glad the Sackler's reputation is in the dirt, but it's frustrating that none of them are going to pay personally or legally. Wish more TV was this good.
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Sasha_Lauren1 December 2021DOPESICK (2021)
~ Background story~ This addictive eight-part mini-series introduces the greedy, scheming Sackler family who own Purdue Pharmaceuticals; they made billions of dollars through malicious, manipulative advertising, and criminal misbranding of the opioid OxyContin.
Sales skyrocketed as theft, child abandonment, dependency, and death rabidly increased. Meanwhile, the Sacklers kept lying about the safety of the time release system, pushing their sales team to SELL SELL SELL via false claims that less than 1% get addicted. Naturally they blamed victims as being drug addicts; the fault of the user, not the drug.
Participants were decieved into participating in the introduction sales video "I Got My Life Back," which was made as a PSA for pain. Text about Oxy was added later. Several participants became addicts or died due to Oxy.
Following the lead of Valium that became a best seller because a medical condition was created called "psychic tension," Purdue created the concepts "pain is the fifth vital sign" and "breakthrough pain," which supposedly happens if people complain of pain within the twelve hour window that Oxy was sold to last for. This justified the company to sell increasing doses up to 160.
They created the smiley-to-sad faced pain chart via Partners Against Pain in order to SELL SELL SELL.
The creation of checkbox pathologies reminds me of the DSM created to sell psych drugs that often boxes healthy people into fake, manufactured diagnoses.
When doctors objected to Purdue pharma reps by saying, "I would never perscribe a pill for moderate pain," the reps countered with propaganda, "Delayed absorption as provided by oxycontin tablets is believed to reduce the abuse liability a drug." They showed manipulated studies. Their campaign began by selling to the labor force in the West Virginia coal mines who often suffer pain and injury.
The FDA under Reagan had only 39 employees responsible for 39,000 promotional items. Curtis Wright, the guy who approved the label saying Oxy is less addictive than other narcotics, ended up as an exective at Purdue Pharma. Imagine that, a revolving door. I mean drug companies are suppossed to be honest, right? So how did people leave the government and go to work (for five times the money) for the people they had been regulating? Hmm, it's a mystery.
~The cool part about the mini-series~ Along comes a DEA agent and a team of Department of Health Investigators who worked for years to prove that Purdue IS the cartel. The series is gripping and ultimately satisfying to watch due to their fight. The interwoven storylines dance beautifully around each other; this script is very well written.
The cast is stellar:
Michael Keaton (never better than in this) plays the kind hearted doctor in Appalachia who gets sucked into perscribing Oxy by Billy, a zealous sales rep (Will Poulter). The head of the DOH investigative team, Rick Mountcast, is played by Peter Sarsgaard. He nailed it, as did his partner, John Hoogenakker.
Kaitlyn Dever is compelling as a young miner who gets injured, and then addicted to Oxy as she struggles with coming out as a lesbian to religous parents in a judgenental community. Rosario Dawson hits just the right notes as the steadfast DEA agent. Michael Stulhbarg was perfectly creepy as Richard Sackler.
A moving and important series.
RECOMMEND RECOMMEND RECOMMEND. -
jessicabishop-2409813 October 2021So many people are dissing this show. They must not know anyone personally who was actually effected by Oxycontin. This gives such good insight to what actually happened with this medication and what has led to so many problems with heroin.
10/10 recommend watching this. This should definitely be talked about and people should know the danger of pharma companies. -
mhmt_korkmaz15 October 2022How could the most powerful, resourceful nation in history could be so silly to let such a heinous crime has been executed for such a long time unchecked by many authorities? How could an ordinary pain lead to addiction of mass scale without the interference of the regulators or alarming thousands of medicine practitioners? What kind of corruption could cause killing 400.000 people? A must see documentary kind of serial directed and played very well. I'm still deeply frustrated days after watching and keep cursing every institution obliged to regulate the pharmaceutical industry. FDA is a joke, not to be trusted and everyone should be aware this fact!
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samabc-3195215 October 2021Dopesick means opiate withdrawal symptoms.
The movie is based on journalist Beth Macy's book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company That Addicted America. It delves into the actual events that took place during a span of almost 20 years and how one company not only triggered the opioid crisis but was responsible for drugging the Americans. Company Purdue Pharma and its pain medication opioid OxyContin! There are on an average 50,000 deaths happen every year due to an overdose of opioid medications!!! In September, the owners of Purdue Pharma- Sacklers who made billions won the immunity from the lawsuit!!! Just 2 days ago in a sweeping settlement, the Sackler family was stripped off of the ownership of the company and was ordered to devote a hefty sum if $10 billion to the fight against opioid crisis tgat has killed around 500,000 Americans over the past 2 decades.
Crisp plot, however, it does lack characterization.. Also, the recurring time frame sequences that cause the frequent time jumps in the story may make you jettison but if seen as a documentary series than the narrative does not seem muddled. Brilliant cast esp Michael Keaton whose poise is commendable and perfect for the role. A must watch.. available on Hulu. -
zenflydad17 October 2021There are some things that U. S. citizens take for granted that would be unthinkable in most advanced societies. First is that Health Care is regarded as a privilege, not a right. Usually, having good or 'Great' health care is tied to one's employment. Lose that job, and you could be on your own. Second, if you are poor you might qualify for Medicare. Not great, perhaps, but far better than nothing. This is a government benefit, usually requiring the state to participate to some degree or another. Third, pharmaceutical corporations are allowed to advertise: in magazines, flyers, on-line, and on TV. This is absurd, because it distorts the marketplace. The medical profession itself is under enough pressure from pharmaceutical companies to prescribe this drug or that one - witness all the competition for drugs to reduce high cholesterol levels. The notion that doctors now need to cope with hordes of self-styled 'experts' demanding medications they only know about from glitzy TV promotions is ludicrous. Bottom Line: this sets the stage for what one very wealthy family, the Sacklers, who owned Purdue Pharmaceuticals were able to do with their power and influence. 'Dopesick' tell that story, and does it well. It is something that most of us are familiar with. A new 'miracle' drug to reduce pain comes on the market and is aggressively pushed by a large pharmaceutical company. In this case it is OxyContin. The Sacklers even manage to get the FDA to approve the Opiod and create a new label minimizing any harm of addiction - something that had never been done before. Please ignore all 'Low Ball' Reviews. This drama is extremely well done, and all involved deserve kudos. This never should have happened. But because of the underlying fault lines in the U. S. healthcare system, perhaps it was perhaps inevitable. Having seen the consequences of the Opiod crisis in West Virginia where I was living and working at the time, I can tell you that whole communities were gutted, hollowed out, and destroyed by what the Sackler family knowingly visited on the country. This is a story that needs to be told and I can confirm that 'Dopesick' is unflinching in its depiction of just how corrupt and difficult the whole ungodly triumvirate of Advertising, Big Pharma, and Corporate Power is to the pursuit of Justice in a country with its priorities not in line with its basic directive to protect its own citizens. By all means, watch this one.
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alidortaj14 October 2021Don't watch this show if your are addicted to binge watching tv shows, because this show will get you hooked. The story is a time lapse (going forward and backward in timeline). I'm a Big Fan of Micheal Keaton movies, Will Poulter, and other cast do a great job. Would definitely recommend this show.
Update: Just watched the season Finale and someone's review said the "Truth is hard to Watch". The director did a great job on the 2019 scene's as I shed a tear thinking of all the families the Sackler family had hurt. I don't want to spread propaganda with a show, but my neighbors have told me some personal family stories. In general I compare this show to Cherenobyl, Breaking Bad for its performances. Would still definitely recommend. -
It's funny reading reviews for this and reading the bad reviews are all bashing the gay storyline , calling it woke and saying this is not true. Well some of the characters may not be based on real characters but it's a combination of a lot of real People. People saying they have taken oxy and not getting addicted ok yiu didn't but thousands have. My dad was addicted to it and I've seen first had how it can effect someone's life. So if you think this is fake I think you need a reality check. I found this mini series compelling and powerful and at times hard to watch and that's the point. The acting is superb. At times yes it dragged on could they have cut parts yes I think they could of. The biggest problem and the reason I didn't love the show is the timeline it goes all over the place why not start from start to finish it was so frustrating to watch.
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joakimca-716687 January 2022I know that saying it's predictable is easy when it's based on real events but in terms of the character development and their choices there's not much new to find in this show.
If you're up for some easy TV with a dramatized real story, then Dopesick is a good show.
For me, this was a waste of time. I don't understand how characters could be as boring as in this series, especially the two attorney guys. I was never surprised and it felt like most scenes were pointless.
The dialogue is dull and cliche to dramatized stories. The music is too serious and wants the viewer to care and in my case, they failed completely.
I will give them some credits on very good acting performances and the fact that it sheds light on an important story. It's just a pity that they didn't achieve in other aspects.
An example of series that succeeds in taking itself seriously when depicting real events is Chernobyl. -
amy31731730 November 2022This series is excellent. As a sober addict I have a very discerning eye when it comes to all film and tv addressing addiction. That said this show is excellent.
The characters are real and legitimate examples of how addiction grabs a community with a strangle hold and won't let go.
This is some of the best acting across the board, I've seen for a while Michael deserved his Emmy and Kaitlyn Dever is an excellent breakout star. You will want to CHOKE Richard Sackler by the end. Looses one star because the constant going back and forth in time wears a little thin
In total Purdue made 34 BILLION dollars off of the addiction of the American people.
If they are not the lowest, most disgusting putrid company ever, I don't know what is.
A must watch! -
elisa-grant15 June 2022Incase there's even the slightest doubt in your mind that pharma companies and the FDA do not have the health and wellbeing of the general population in mind, this mini series will solidify it.
It's all happened so recently too!