The Pharmacist: When the Opioid Overdose Crisis Becomes Personal
Streaming services and book publishers have released at least 2 TV series and several books on the opioid crisis, particularly at some of the people at the heart of it. We will get to the newer ones in future months, but although I was waiting for Alex Gibney's HBO series on Purdue Pharma to become available, I watched The Pharmacist, a 4-episode documentary series on Netflix.
The Pharmacist pulls no punches as it exposes the workings of a "pain center" in Louisiana run by one physician who handed out so many opioid prescriptions that a local pharmacist could not help but notice the alarming pattern. Fueled by a personal loss-the earlier tragic drug-related murder of his son-the pharmacist begins a 1-man crusade to get federal and state law enforcement to shut down the clinic, which turns into a 2-man crusade when an unlikely partner emerges.
I found this series especially compelling, having interviewed pain specialists after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Although the disaster had a far-reaching effect on pain patients and physicians, one of the issues the physician mentioned was a recent growth in "pill mills" handing out a disproportionate number of opioid prescriptions. Watching the pharmacist in the series talk about his frustration at the blatant abuse of patient trust, I was reminded of the same frustration in the voice of the Louisiana pain specialist I interviewed after Katrina.
The talking heads in The Pharmacist include a former sales representative for Purdue Pharma going into detail about the company's sales tactics, and investigators for the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and state prosecutors. One of the bright spots is the significant role played by the state medical board.
As with nearly all true crime documentaries, there is some dramatization and repetition, so you may want to skim through some parts. Episodes 3 and 4 are the most important, as the investigation closes in on the physician, taking some unexpected turns.