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Facing the Opioid Nightmare: Netflix Series Offers a Harrowing Look at America’s Struggle

Lethal medicine is Netflix's answer to the opioid crisis

Facing the Opioid Nightmare: Netflix Series Offers a Harrowing Look at America’s Struggle
Juan Carlos Saloz

Juan Carlos Saloz

The United States has a very serious opioid problem. Beyond fentanyl, which is grabbing all the headlines in recent months due to the extreme addiction suffered by many Americans, brands such as OxyContin, OxyNorm or Percodan have been ravaging the population for years. Between 1996 and 2015 they killed more than half a million people, and in 2019 an average of 136 people a day were dying from excessive intake of these drugs… and these are numbers that are growing more and more every year.

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Faced with this major problem that is affecting more and more American families, there have been no shortage of films, series and documentaries that attempt to paint a portrait of a nightmare that does not seem to have a clear end. Disney Plus presented in 2022 Dopesick: Story of an Addiction, a miniseries that reflected this issue. And a year earlier HBO Max did the same with the documentary The Crime of the Century. And now the time has come for Netflix to do the same with a series on the subject.

A series so realistic it’s scary

Starring Matthew Broderick and directed by Peter Berg, Painkiller is a Netflix miniseries that tells the story of Edie, a woman who investigates a real case that ends up leading her to Purdue Pharmaceuticals. At this point she will get to the bottom of a matter of great importance that has been kept hidden until now, while confronting the all-powerful executive Richard Sackler (Broderick).

With 6 episodes of 50 minutes, Lethal Medicine manages to make a fairly realistic and therefore discouraging perspective of what is happening with America today. It goes from the top of the ladder to the lowest depths and slums, and manages to make a general portrait of everything that happens in the country of the stars and stripes. Undoubtedly, this is a series worth watching to understand what is happening in the world.

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Juan Carlos Saloz

Juan Carlos Saloz

Cultural journalist specialized in film, series, comics, video games, and everything your parents tried to keep you away from during your childhood. Also an aspiring film director, screenwriter, and professional troublemaker.

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