Experts worry Dopesick is scaring people from using painkillers

VICE

Last week, the Hulu opioid crisis limited series tweeted a clip of a U.S. attorney investigating OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma in bed following prostate surgery, refusing to take OxyContin. Beverly Schechtman, an advocate for chronic pain patients who herself has Crohn’s disease, said the clip “doesn’t really make any sense.” “It’s not like this huge dose that’s going to automatically turn someone into someone who has an addiction, but that’s the way they portray it,” she tells Vice News. “I think it actually adds stigma, not just of pain patients, but people with addiction.” reached out to Hulu for comment but did not receive a response. William Amarquaye, a clinical pharmacist at Brandon Regional Hospital, said the majority of people who receive opioids after surgery don’t go on to have opioid use disorder. “They’re using these minor numbers and blowing them up to say that anyone could become addicted,” he says, noting that patients are assessed for risk factors, including mental-health and substance-use issues.