Since 2012, Roanoke-based writer Beth Macy has been at the forefront of reporting on the opioid epidemic, covering the toll that the drugs have taken on people and communities in the Appalachian region. In that time, she’s tracked the story of one drug in particular: the painkiller OxyContin.
Macy works in western Virginia, but the harrowing stories she’s told aren’t geographically unique. “The story could have been told anywhere,” she says. “It’s bad everywhere.”
The result of Macy’s research is her 2018 New York Times bestseller Dopesick, which Hulu has adapted as an eight-episode limited television series starring Michael Keaton. Macy is an executive producer and contributing screenwriter, and actor-turned-writer Danny Strong is the showrunner and executive producer.
“Dopesick” reveals how the Sackler family’s Purdue Pharma preyed on poor, pain-afflicted laborers and their families. By selling the lie that their drug OxyContin was seldom addictive, Purdue caused widespread addiction, ruined communities, and left over 450,000 Americans dead.
The Sackler family is currently claiming bankruptcy. That’s not enough, says Macy. “There should be criminal prosecution of this family…well over half a million Americans are dead now and we know that OxyContin was the taproot of this epidemic. And they’re going to walk away richer than they are right now after they pay their fine. That’s wrong.”
The real-life heroes of “Dopesick” are the lawyers and activists—particularly opioid victims’ family members—who have bravely, relentlessly crusaded in court against the billionaires’ white-collar drug-pushing.
Macy enthuses about Strong as a showrunner. “Woe be it to the person who tries to fight Danny Strong, because there is no better fighter,” she says. “He was just determined to tell this story.”
The series takes the epidemic’s complex backstory and assembles it in a palatable way. And during the production process, fresh information kept pouring in, from sources like leaked documents and conference calls with former Purdue employees. “It’s a little bit thrilling, says Macy. “It’s a legal investigative story. I would have no idea how to do that, but Danny knew exactly what he wanted.”
For someone used to working alone in a home office, Macy says that working on “Dopesick” was an entirely new experience—like getting paid to get a graduate degree in screenwriting. “The scriptwriting itself was really hard at first because, all of a sudden, you don’t have the tool of exposition,” she says. “You have to show it or tell it in dialogue. You can’t just drop in a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation.”
“Dopesick” was largely filmed in Virginia, with Richmond serving as a headquarters, and Clifton Forge representing the fictional town of Finch Creek. Although the setting was ultimately Disney’s decision—it owns Hulu—Macy says she made an impassioned speech to Strong about filming in Virginia, because it’s one of the states hardest hit by the epidemic.
The cast was thoroughly invested in the story, and worked hard to grasp every aspect of the epidemic. Macy describes a particularly intense scene where Dr. Samuel Finnix (Keaton) faces a grand jury. “I could watch that scene a hundred times—it gives me goosebumps! He can do so many things with his face in three seconds.”
Ultimately, “Dopesick” delivers the message that America desperately needs to value human beings over profits. “The infrastructure has to be the health of Americans,” Macy says. “We’ve got to get these two-plus million people who are addicted to opioids the care they need. Because we’re not going to be able to build roads and bridges if we can’t find employees to do it.”
“Why can’t we hold power accountable? The show asks that question. America has got to stand up and demand that we have humanity in our institutions again.”
An episode of “Dopesick” will be screened on October 30, followed by a Q&A with Macy and Strong.
“Dopesick”
October 30
The Paramount Theater
