"It was not spoken of, and therefore overlooked, so there has been a bit of a racial component to this," Hall said. During the pandemic, overdose deaths have surged among people of color. NPR's reporting has found the public response in Black urban communities struggling with the opioid epidemic has often differed from the response in small white towns like the ones portrayed in Dopesick.īlack Americans with addiction face higher rates of incarceration and have often been denied access to treatment and health care. "Yet, it was dealt with from a mostly a criminal justice and punitive standpoint rather than the public health approach, which is what we have learned to do now." "The reality is that there have been massive deaths associated with opioids and heroin for a very, very, very, long time in Black and brown communities around the country," Hall said. Toll-free number for the SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-80Ĭarlton Hall - a consultant and expert on addiction prevention - said it's an ongoing issue.The addiction treatment industry is rife with scams and low-quality expensive facilities.įor confidential free help from public health agencies and to find substance use treatment and information, use these resources: You should consult your doctors when possible for help with substance use disorder, and proceed cautiously. "So many people haven't been to these small communities that have just been decimated." "We wanted the viewer to come away with the story of what really happened out there," Macy said. She says Gipe vetted every single detail. Strong followed Macy's suggestion to hire Robert Gipe, a graphic novelist who lives in eastern Kentucky, as a consultant. "Appalachians are real people, and they've suffered more than the average Americans." "Appalachia has just been dumped on for over a century to be honest, and I just wanted to make sure that we treated as accurately and with humanity," Macy said. She's spent many years covering the stories and people of Appalachia accurately depicting these small towns, the people and the culture was a priority for her in working on the TV series. Macy, who wrote the book Dopesick, is a longtime newspaper writer in Roanoke, Va. Kaitlyn Dever and Nicholas Logan portray Betsy Mullam and Walt in the Hulu show. "Appalachians are real people, and they've suffered more than the average Americans," author Beth Macy said. I could achieve a more universal truth a higher truth." I could use as many anecdotes as I wanted. "By fictionalizing, I wouldn't be stuck to the truth of one person's life. "If I made these characters composite characters, I get way more of these anecdotes into these arcs with fewer characters and get more truthful stories into the show," Strong said. Keaton's character doesn't exist in the real world, but many doctors like him helped shape Finnix's story. As they grew addicted, Finnix developed his own dependence on the drug, beginning an odyssey through addiction and recovery that mirrored his patients' journey. Samuel Finnix, a dedicated doctor in a small Virginia mining town who was persuaded by a Purdue Pharma salesman to prescribe Ox圜ontin for his patients. Is Michael Keaton's character based on a real doctor? They're often shown as callous villains with little regard for patients who become addicted or communities devastated by the disease. When it comes to members of the Sackler family who own and control Ox圜ontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, the series takes a strong position. Anything that didn't feel real wouldn't fly.īut Strong says several characters in Dopesick are fictionalized - their character arcs assembled from the stories of a few different people. "Because we were documenting the crimes of Purdue Pharma, the show needed to feel as real as possible," Macy said. They consulted a doctor who had been addicted to Ox圜ontin who revealed the horrors he suffered. They brought in people from small towns and with opioid abuse disorder. While developing the show, they did extensive research to give the series a feeling of authenticity. They had a fateful meeting in Chicago, and decided to work together to add authenticity to Strong's scripts. Hulu's limited series is based in part on material from the nonfiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America by journalist Beth Macy, who has written extensively about the opioid crisis in Appalachia.Īs Macy was considering offers around Hollywood, executive producer Danny Strong had already set up his own opioid addiction project at 20th Television. TV Reviews Hulu's 'Dopesick' tells the chilling story of America's opioid crisis Is Dopesick a true story?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |