"A revelatory, moving narrative that offers a harrowing critique of the war on drugs from voices seldom heard in the conversation: drug users who are working on the front lines to reduce overdose deaths Media coverage has established a clear narrative of the overdose crisis: In the 1990s, pharmaceutical corporations flooded America with powerful narcotics while lying about their risk; many patients developed addictions to prescription opioids; then, as access was restricted, waves of people turned to the streets and began using heroin and, later, the dangerous synthetic opioid fentanyl. But that’s not the whole story. It fails to acknowledge how the war on drugs has exacerbated the crisis and leaves out one crucial voice: that of drug users themselves.

The inside story of a band of entrepreneurial upstarts who made millions selling painkillers--until their scheme unraveled, putting them at the center of a landmark criminal trial. "Unfolds with the velocity and verve of a Scorsese film...A tour de force."--Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing . In The Hard Sell, National Magazine Award-finalist Evan Hughes lays bare the pharma playbook. He draws on unprecedented access to insiders of the Insys saga, from top executives to foot soldiers, from the patients and staff of far-flung clinics to the Boston investigators who treated the case as a drug-trafficking conspiracy, flipping cooperators and closing in on the key players.   With colorful characters and true suspense, The Hard Sell offers a bracing look not just at Insys, but at how opioids are sold at the point they first enter the national bloodstream--in the doctor's office.

Ottawa Book Award 2021 -- Shortlisted * The Donner Prize 2020 -- Shortlisted * Speaker's Book Award 2020 -- Shortlisted Is there a way to end North America's opioid epidemic? "A fascinating, wise, and humane analysis of one of the most pressing health challenges of the 21st century." -- Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now In The Age of Fentanyl, Brodie Ramin tells the story of the opioid crisis, showing us the disease and cure from his perspective as an addiction doctor working on the front lines. We meet his patients, hear from other addiction experts, and learn about the science and medicine of opioid addiction and its treatments. He shows us how addiction can be prevented, how knowledge can reduce stigma, and how epidemics can be beaten. Dr. Ramin brings the hopeful message that just as patients and health care workers rallied together to fight HIV one generation ago, a coalition of patients, advocates, scientists, doctors, and nurses is once again finding solutions and making plans to stem the overdose deaths, block the spread of fentanyl, and end the epidemic.

Fentanyl was developed as a drug that could relieve severe pain and assist doctors in performing complex surgeries. Due to its potent effects, fentanyl is often sold illegally as an ingredient in counterfeit opioid pills or mixed with heroin or cocaine. Because it is nearly impossible to gauge the strength of illegal fentanyl doses, tens of thousands of Americans have overdosed on the drug in recent years. This book provides information about the effects of fentanyl and how it contributes to the ongoing opioid crisis. Opioids are psychoactive drugs derived from the opium poppy, such as heroin or morphine, or synthetic versions that mimic their effects, such as fentanyl or oxycodone. The series Opioid Education: Devastation and the Grip on Society examines various aspects of opioid use and treatment in the United States and the rest of the world. The purpose of this series is to provide young readers with a greater understanding of the ongoing opioid crisis.

Drug abuse, a problem the United States has faced for decades, has taken a sharply more lethal turn with the rise of opioids--both legal pain- killers, such as oxycodone and fentanyl, and illegal ones like heroin. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50. More than 64,000 Americans were killed by drug overdoses in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control. That is worse than the death toll at the peak of the HIV epidemic in 1995 and more than the number of US combat deaths in the entire Vietnam War. At least two-thirds of those 2016 drug deaths were caused by opioids. This issue advisory presents three options for deliberation. Each option offers advantages as well as drawbacks. If we increase enforcement, for example, this may result in putting many more people in prison. If we reduce the number of prescriptions written, we may increase suffering among people with painful illnesses. Each option is based on differing views about what we hold most valuable. Each represents a general direction and suggests a number of actions that can be carried out by different people or groups. About National Issues Forum The National Issues Forums (NIF) is a network of organizations that brings together citizens around the nation to talk about pressing social and political issues of the day. Thousands of community organizations, including schools, libraries, churches, civic groups, and others, have sponsored forums designed to give people a public voice in the affairs of their communities and their nation. For more information about NIF and for additional publications, see NIF's website at www.nifi.org.