Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic

"Over the past two decades, more than 250,000 Americans have died from overdoses involving prescription painkillers, a plague ignited by the aggressive marketing of OxyContin by its maker, Purdue Pharma. Purdue, owned by the wealthy and secretive Sackler family, knew early on that teenagers and others were abusing its billion-dollar wonder drug. But Justice Department officials balked when it came to meting out actual punishment, allowing an opioid crisis to evolve into a catatrophe. Meier reveals new and shocking information about how long the drugmaker knew about OxyContin abuse--even as it continued to sell and market the drug--and about the way government officials passed up opportunities to protect tens of thousands of live. Equal parts crime thriller, medical detective story, and business exposâe, Pain Killer is a hard-hitting look at the way OxyContin became the gateway drug to a national tragedy." -