Sam Quinones' Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic covers the complex web of events which led to and resulted from the opiate craze of the 1990s. Quinones carries out journalistic research into the rise of big pharma and the invasive distribution of heroin from Mexico at this time. Covering the phenomena scientifically, he relates why the drugs were so addictive, from a chemical analysis, and how they become so commonly used. He writes about the events with a pretty heavy hand, painstakingly illustrating the destructive effect of addiction on communities. Rather than condemning people for their susceptibility to these drugs, Quinones ends on a hopeful note. He describes the community-driven pushback which eventually broke the cycle: people helping other people.
In his research, Quinones is able to clearly outline how the drug craze forms. When some greedy drug companies synthesized drugs like OxyContin -- whose chemical makeup closely resembles heroin -- which were highly addictive, they made deals with hospitals across the country to prescribe them. They also began an aggressive marketing campaign. By the end of it, patients would come in demanding the prescription of theses drugs despite their doctors' repeated advice against further prescriptions. The chemical addiction was taking hold. As the drugs began to be more difficult to get a prescription for, people began to turn to heroin and other street opiates for relief. Quinones relays his research into the small county in Mexico responsible for the figurative flooding of the streets with heroin. The U.S. government struggled to end this successful drug distribution because the community in Xalisco had no formal cartel ties, meaning they were much more difficult to track down.
Quinones writes as if personally scarred by the events of the 1990s. Without revealing a personal angle to the narrative, his narration is nevertheless extremely compelling. He describes the wildly destructive effects of addiction on communities like Portsmouth. Multiple generations simultaneously fell into drug-fueled mania, wreaking havoc on local economics and safety. In the end, Quinones describes how local communities finally banded together to directly help their community break free from addiction. The crisis ended because of a mutual willingness of person's to help their neighbors.
