Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the opioid epidemic, McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs, but the corrupting of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it. A few physicians warned of impending disaster, but the forces they were up against-- including the pharmaceutical industry's coopting of the Food and Drug Administration and Congress in the drive to push painkillers-- resulted in the resurgence of heroin cartels in the American heartland. McGreal shows how its ruinous consequences will stretch years into the future. -- adapted from jacket.

Introduction: An epidemic foretold -- Act I: Dealing. The undertaker ; Junk science ; Pilliamson ; The sales pitch ; What they knew ; Investigation ; Vital sign -- Act II: Hooked. A loaded gun in the suicide ward ; Paying to play ; Pursuit ; The silence ; Pushback ; Sounding the alarm ; Kermit ; A free pass ; The end of days -- Act III: Withdrawal. The public health ; Russian roulette ; Dodging torpedoes ; The national nightmare ; Guilt.