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Solidarity Stories: Community Led Book Discussion -"Dopesick"

Join the Mount Rainier Branch Library and Prince George’s County Office of Human Rights for our monthly book club! This month we hope you can join us as we discuss "Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America" by Beth Macy.

Beth Macy takes us into the epicenter of America's twenty-plus year struggle with opioid addiction. From distressed small communities in Central Appalachia to wealthy suburbs; from disparate cities to once-idyllic farm towns; it's a heartbreaking trajectory that illustrates how this national crisis has persisted for so long and become so firmly entrenched. Beginning with a single dealer who lands in a small Virginia town and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin overdose statistics, Macy endeavors to answer a grieving mother's question-why her only son died-and comes away with a harrowing story of greed and need. From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy parses how America embraced a medical culture where overtreatment with painkillers became the norm. In some of the same distressed communities featured in her bestselling book Factory Man, the unemployed use painkillers both to numb the pain of joblessness and pay their bills, while privileged teens trade pills in cul-de-sacs, and even high school standouts fall prey to prostitution, jail, and death. Through unsparing, yet deeply human portraits of the families and first responders struggling to ameliorate this epidemic, each facet of the crisis comes into focus. In these politically fragmented times, Beth Macy shows, astonishingly, that the only thing that unites Americans across geographic and class lines is opioid drug abuse. But in a country unable to provide basic healthcare for all, Macy still finds reason to hope-and signs of the spirit and tenacity necessary in those facing addiction to build a better future for themselves and their families.

—From Catalog.

Borrow the book from PGCMLS: Print | Eaudiobook | Ebook | Audio CD

Solidarity Stories: Community Led Book Discussion takes place on the 3rd Tuesday of each month in the upstairs lounge area of miXt Food Hall in Brentwood, MD. Limited parking is available via the garage on 39th St & Rhode Island Ave. Parking is free for program participants and no purchase is required, but participants are welcome to order snacks, drinks, or dinner from miXt’s vendors. For more information, visit their website: https://mixtfoodhall.com