This story really happened, and it transformed modern America into a country on drugs.

The US was supposedly experiencing an epidemic of pain – doctors were disregarding patients, and patients were suffering. That was the claim made by the pharmaceutical company that introduced a powerful painkiller to the market, based on highly addictive opioids. That was the claim made by doctors who were financed by the company. The drug quickly gained popularity, backed by a deceitful campaign with the slogan “Less than 1% patients become addicted”. More than half a million people have died because of the opioid crisis. Half a million of Americans.

The producers of the drug made billions off of their victims. As part of a legal settlement, they paid a fine smaller than their profit, effectively securing their own impunity in the process.