American Overdose

LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2019

A devastating portrait of America's opioid painkiller epidemic - the deadliest drug crisis in US history.

One hundred and fifty Americans are killed each day by the opioid epidemic. But, as Chris McGreal reveals it was an avoidable tragedy driven by bad science, corporate greed and a corrupted medical system. He tells the stories of the families devastated by painkillers they thought would heal, and the physicians and scientists who took on the drug companies behind the epidemic. American Overdose is a powerful account of the terrible human cost of the crisis, and a stark warning of the consequences of running a health care system as a business, not a service.