"A festering opioid crisis, worn-out families and ‘so much pain to process’" PBS NewsHour 8/14/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In “Dopesick,” journalist and author Beth Macy takes readers to the front lines of the opioid epidemic in Roanoke, Virginia, and other nearby communities, telling the story of grieving families, exhausted medical workers and convicted heroin dealers.  Jeffrey Brown reports as part of our ongoing series, America Addicted.

Jeffrey Brown (NewsHour):  Two years ago, journalist and author Beth Macy, a fellow Roanoke resident, met Patricia and Tess.  Macy tells their story, and that of many others, in a harrowing account that traces two decades of one of the worst drug crises in American history.  It’s called “Dopesick.”

Beth Macy, author:  I heard it over and over from people who were struggling with opioid addiction.

Jeffrey Brown:  You heard that phrase?

Beth Macy:  That is the word they used.  Man, I’m dope-sick, or, man, I was dopesick when that happened.

What does it mean?  That means, like, excruciating withdrawal.  They have sweats, diarrhea, chills, vomiting.  And as somebody early on in the book says, at the end of your journey, you’re not doing it to get high.  You’re just doing it to keep from being dopesick.