From DW Documentary.

The United States has a huge drug problem: cheap opioids, thousands of deaths. President Trump blames Latin American cartels. But it all began 30 years ago, quite legally, in the United States.

The Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, brought the prescription painkiller OxyContin – containing the highly potent opioid oxycodone – onto the market, unleashing one of the greatest health disasters in the history of the United States. With hundreds of sales representatives, they pressured doctors in economically disadvantaged regions to prescribe the drug.

One of the film’s protagonists is Dr Lou Ortenzio, who was himself part of this machinery: he brought the drug to his town of Clarksburg before becoming addicted himself. Former sales representatives, now whistleblowers, report how they lied to doctors and claimed that Oxy was not addictive.

A perfectly oiled machine got millions of Americans hooked – and deceived an entire country. Prosecutors like Maura Healey describe their fight to stop Purdue and bring the Sacklers to justice. The investigations reveal a network of power and influence: Purdue secretly received support from McKinsey, consulting firm to the powerful, and from Publicis, a major advertising agency.

Through exclusive interviews, insider accounts and previously unpublished archive material, this two-part documentary reveals how the Sacklers bribed regulators, pushed Oxy and evaded justice despite overwhelming evidence. The two-part documentary tells the story of a crisis that continues to devastate parts of American society to this day.

*[Part 2 coming next week]*

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