Killing Pain: Understanding the Opioid Pandemic and the American Obsession with Oxycontin, Heroin, and Other Painkillers

In 1996, the FDA approved and endorsed Perdue Pharmaceutical’s new drug, "Oxycontin" as a non-addictive pain reliever. Since 1996, the CDC reported 841,000 drug overdose deaths nationwide. In the 12 months ending in April of 2021, over 103,000 Americans died from a drug overdose. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention tells us that Americans 50 years old and younger are more likely to die of a drug overdose than any other cause. Do you ever wonder why teenagers and even pre-teens now prefer heroin over tobacco and marijuana? Do you wonder how heroin went from a taboo drug to the most abused drug, or how it came out of the shadows and is now everywhere? Prescribed pain killers, heroin, and now deadly Fentanyl are in every neighborhood in the country. Addiction affects everyone.Why do millions of middle class and upper class Americans throw away everything they have and more just to feed their opioid addiction?Do you wonder how this began, where it came from? What caused this out-of-control opioid pandemic?What fuels the dynamics of the addicted brain, and is there a solution?Killing Pain explains in a very personal and brutally honest way how it all began, how easy it is to become addicted to opioids, and what it takes to get clean again. As bad as it is, there is a solution. Read more