Dreamland MP3 CD – Unabridged, April 19, 2016

The United States of America is in the midst of a widespread opiate epidemic that has devastated hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across the country. The captivating story of exactly how this came to be is expertly told in acclaimed journalist Sam Quinones' fantastic book, "Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic", which was published in 2015.In "Dreamland", Quinones magnificently blends together two seemingly-independent narratives: the overly generous prescription of pain medications during the 1990s (including Purdue Pharma's ambitious campaign to aggressively market and sell OxyContin) and the unforeseen—and unprecedented—arrival of cheap, consistent, high quality black tar heroin from one small county in Mexico. According to Quinones, these developments joined forces in a dangerous synergy that ultimately resulted in America's modern-day opiate epidemic.The book opens with a ridiculously thorough timeline that begins with the distillation of morphine in 1804, moves on to the invention of the hypodermic syringe in 1853 (did you know that the inventor's wife was the first to die of injected drug overdose?), glances at the release of OxyContin in 1996, and ends with the FDA's 2014 approval of Targiniq ER, which combined timed-release oxycodone with naloxone. This timeline, which provides plenty of insight into what went on in between those four events, sets the stage for the book's narrative and successfully primes the reader for the information that follows.And the actual book doesn't disappoint, either—as the dust-jacket blurb states, it introduces "a memorable cast of characters—pharma pioneers, young Mexican entrepreneurs, narcotics investigators, survivors, and parents, and Quinones shows how these tales fit together." Sure enough, about midway through "Dreamland", the reader begins to see the sophisticated web that was woven by several groups of people who were simply following the capitalist dream (operating in their own best interest in an attempt to make as much money as possible), and the once-hidden connections between the people and places involved become as clear as crystal.When it comes down to it, "Dreamland" is the best book that I've read so far this year. The story is compelling and unfolds beautifully, in a masterful manner that constantly tempts the reader to read the next chapter. The level of detail that is crammed into each page is truly impressive, but never overwhelming. Simply put—I enjoyed every single word. The topic isn't necessarily the most popular (for the average reader), so I'm not sure that I would recommend this book to someone unless they're already interested in America's opiate epidemic. However, if you are at all intrigued by the topic, then I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you. It will likely take a while to read, because it is packed so densely, but it will be worth your investment of money, time, and energy. And I will keep an eye out for any future books and articles by Quinones, as his writing is an absolute joy to read.

This will probably be one of the best books that I have read this year. Quinones takes research to a whole new level in this book-he hunted down everyone(well nearly, more about that below), from the big players to the small victims, he gave the backstory we couldn't imagine existed, he crisscrossed the country. I cannot imagine what it took to create this book-it is so wonderful. That said, I did dock it one star because the one thing he did not research well or cover was illegal immigration. This omission is even more glaring given how wonderfully thorough he was with everyone and everything else. I truly wonder why he left this out of the book. If I could summarize this book in a sentence it would be: Big pharma creates an opioid epidemic that leads to a perpetual heroin trade fueled by illegal immigrant's easy travel. Truly. So where is that component? He spoke to no border control agents. He did not talk about the fence or lack there of. He did not talk to the lawmakers struggling to keep the drugs out our country. He did not address the various laws/policies that affect this easy travel. He gave great suggestions on how to stem the rise of addictions, none of which included any good ideas as to how to keep the drug dealers out of country. Why? In reading this, for the first time in my life, our open border serious concerned me. So why was that not covered?

One of the MOST important and riveting books I've read in a long time - and that is not an exaggeration! I rarely give 5 stars but this one deserves it. An incredible journey and comprehensive telling by perhaps one of our best living journalists of what went wrong leading to the opiate-heroin-drug-overdose-death epidemic in America, how easily opiates evolved into a heroin epidemic, ravaged small town America and then spread well beyond into comfortable communities of privilege.I came upon this book delving into trying to understand what has been going on in this country (starting with Hillbilly Elegy), and why despite reading broadly than most, I was so taken aback by the Nov'16 election outcome. The factors are myriad - and that journey continues - but what became obvious to me was that the opiate crisis particularly in places like Portsmouth Ohio or the Appalachia created much of the senseless destruction that contributed to it. It's only when that crisis reached "us" with the death of people like Philip Hoffman Seymour in 2014 did we even begin to pay attention. But it was too late. Given the garbage heap of non-essentials that the media shoves at us they largely missed the urgency of this story. Death due to drug overdoses exceeded those from car crashes as early as 2007!!! YES you read that right - 2007 - nearly a decade before we paid attention. How broadly was that publicized, and how deeply investigated? Thankfully for us there are journalists out there like Sam Quinones who researched it for 5 years and then wrote this tome.Besides being a great read because of his fantastic narrative style and passion for getting to the bottom of it, Quinones brings together a complete picture of all that played here. The opiate-heroin crisis resulted from a PERFECT STORM of varied factors coming together --- the drastic swing in the pain management pendulum with a change towards prescribing opiates starting in the '90's willy-nilly to one and all under the misguided - and to some extent deliberate - notion that they are not addictive when prescribed for pain "pain soaks up the euphoria"! There was no "data" or "study", instead a small paragraph in a letter to an editor of a medical journal that set this off. No one asked questions or asked to see the source! The man who wrote the paragraph had no intention nor data to support what was inferred.-- unethical companies like Purdue Pharma taking advantage of this new fad, pushing their drug(s) esp. OxyContin on anyone with ANY pain creating drug addicts who would never have gotten there. Purdue knew the "data" was faulty and that new addicts were being created everyday yet they pushed it hard until the end,-- unethical, often "quack" pill doctors who appeared at mushrooming "pain clinics" everywhere to provide willing Rx for OxyContin; they only took $250 in cash per visit!-- unlimited and unchecked Medicaid card, SSI, disability benefits that funded the pills; a medicaid card enabled you to get pills with a $3 copay that you could resell for thousands of dollars. One reason for the millions who are not employed nor looking for work...-- the appearance of black tar heroin from Mexico for which OxyContin happened to be the perfect gateway drug a lot cheaper and better quality (high potency) than the white powder; OxyContin traveled west and black tar heroin traveled east and the invasion was complete!-- a new business model for selling heroin via near unbreakable Mexican drug dealing cells where the heroin is delivered like pizza to customers along with great service by salaried drivers!Yes that's how crazy it got -- and we are only now beginning to understand and unravel let along address! Read on for an amazing book and incredible journey of learning.

"Dreamland" is an impactful exploration of America's opioid epidemic. Sam Quinones skillfully combines real stories with in-depth research, creating a compelling narrative that educates and engages. This book is a concise yet powerful examination of the crisis, deserving of its five-star rating. A must-read for anyone looking to understand the human side of this challenging issue.

Found this book after reading the Purdue Pharma story. It provides a much wider view of the whole opiate crisis than was caused by OxyContin. A gripping read.

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Mesmo para quem, como eu, atua nessa área de estudos há décadas, o livro informa e mesmo surpreende, pois o jornalista que o escreveu realizou um trabalho notável de investigação, além de escrever de forma claríssima, de modo que a gigantesca investigação jornalística que se transformou em um livro que vem colecionando prêmios pode ser lida com prazer tanto pelos especialistas como pelo público em geral. Não é necessário qualquer conhecimento prévio sobre a dramática situação dos opioides/opiáceos nos EUA, pois o texto é 100% auto-explicativo.

Not only for americans. The best way to understand the opioid crisis in USA