About the series
The series tells the story of the causes and consequences of the notorious opioid epidemic in the mid-1990s, when the seemingly ordinary painkiller OxyContin, made by Purdue Pharma, caused persistent addiction, leading patients to increase their dosage or move on to stronger narcotics. As a result, many people taking the drug died of overdoses. The series is based on real events described in Barry Meier's book and Patrick Radden Keefe's article.