Dreamland
by Sam Quinones · first published 2015
24mentions
15recommended by
19HN commenters
2015–2024first – last mentioned
79% recommend21% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Well-researched narrative history of the US opioid epidemic, tying prescription painkiller marketing like OxyContin to the low-violence Xalisco heroin sellers; suits readers wanting the full causes and background.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Sam Quinones chronicles how, over the past 15 years, enterprising sugar cane farmers in a small county on the west coast of Mexico created a unique distribution system that brought black tar heroin-- the cheapest, most addictive form of the opiate, 2 to 3 times purer than its white powder cousin-- to the veins of people across the United States.
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…many, many times this number. So I fail to see how this is anything other than an injustice, and fear that it will take the pressure off of other court cases against opioid sellers. Reading the book "Dreamland" [2] on the opioid crisis changed my life. Even as someone from a part of Ohio hurt by opioids, it's hard to imagine the venality of these people, the callousness of the Mexican drug dealers who swoop…
on “Opioid crisis: Johnson and Johnson hit by landmark ruling” ↗For those interested in learning more about the erosion of the American heartland by the widespread use of prescription narcotics, particularly Oxycontin, I strongly recommend the book "Dreamland," a nonfiction text weaving together the narratives of the opiode boom in American medicine and the spread of Xalisco black tar herion cells throughout American cities that had seldom seen heroin: http://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidemi...…
on “America's poorest white town: abandoned by coal, swallowed by drugs” ↗If you're looking for a go-to book on America's opioid crisis- Dreamland by Sam Quinones. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22529381-dreamland The devil is absolutely in the details and it seems like it's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.
on “America’s opioid epidemic is worsening” ↗I've been reading Dreamland by Sam Quinones, which goes into detail and background of the past ~50 years or so about how we got into this situation. A large part of the WHY you're referring to I'll summarize as 1. Pain being identified…
on “The lucrative business of America’s opioid crisis” ↗There is already a pretty good book on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidem...
on “Drug firms poured 780M painkillers into WV amid rise of overdoses” ↗I just finished reading Dreamland which I also thought was good. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epid... This book has more of a focus on American pharma industry but still has lots of interesting insider insights.
on “Behind the Scenes of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel” ↗I highly recommend the book Dreamland for more on this topic: https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidem...
"Dreamland" is the book that explains all this: https://smile.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epid...
on “Seattle Is Opening First in U.S. “Safe Injection Facility” for Heroin Addicts” ↗For those interested in this topic and how the opiate epidemic has stretched across the US, read Dreamland by Sam Quinones (https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidem...) There are a multitude of reasons to explain how this happened but to quickly sum up an excellent book: - Purdue created…
on “OxyContin's 12-hour problem (2016)” ↗The book Dreamland covers this quite a bit, and is a good read on the subject: https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidem... My takeaway was that opiates were incorrectly classified as a non-addictive…
on “OxyContin's 12-hour problem (2016)” ↗We can conjecture all we'd like, but Sam Quinones wrote a rather definitive history of the opioid epidemic in America. https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidem... Sam ran the podcast circuit awhile back if you want to listen to his story. I found out about it via Russ Roberts' Econ Talk. http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/01/sam_quinones_on.htm...
on “Ohio Sues 5 Major Drug Companies For 'Fueling Opioid Epidemic'” ↗…been a more effective opioid selling due to some Mexican drug sellers. Interestingly, these sellers are much less violent than previous opioid sellers. These reasons are outlined in the excellent book 'Dreamland' https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidem... Long interview podcast (~1hr) with the author to listen to or read the transcript of here: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/01/sam_quinones_on.htm...
on “Ohio Sues 5 Major Drug Companies For 'Fueling Opioid Epidemic'” ↗I'm finishing the book Dreamland, by Sam Quinones, which directly addresses your questions (with a particular focus on addiction in middle america/appalachia) Q1: Medicaid co-pay for $1000 worth of OxyContin was (as of ~2014, might…
on “Opioid Use Could Explain 20% of the Drop in American Men from Labor Force” ↗The book to read about the opioid crisis is Dreamland by Sam Quinones. It is really well written and researched and lays out the several separate events and trends that converged to make this perfect storm happen when and where it did: https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidem...
on “Opioid Use Could Explain 20% of the Drop in American Men from Labor Force” ↗…illegal. Some lie to get the prescription, no one can prove you don't have back pain. Some get a prescription after surgery and get addicted that week. The super informative and well written book to read is Dreamland: https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidem...
on “China overtakes U.S. for healthy lifespan: WHO data” ↗