“American doctors are still prescribing too many of the things, and then they're cutting people off who are on them long term and who are not misusing them - and that's not good either. “Think about it: We're all just one fender bender away from possibly being offered opioids,” she said. The fact that the series can draw people who don't even know about this problem is uplifting, she said. Macy said the opioid pandemic still flies under the radar in our country. If people just come away with that understanding, I'll be really happy.” ‘We’re all just one fender bender away’ “Science is the best path out of opioid use disorder. The series is told so beautifully and dramatically that you really see how people are stigmatized who have this medical problem and how they're discouraged from seeking the treatment. The last two episodes of the show have a really strong storyline about treatment: what works, what doesn't work and how stigma holds people back from getting treatment. It's called ‘Raising Lazarus,’ and it goes into further detail. “I have a new book coming out next August, which is more about solutions. “People are watching the show who didn't read the book and then are reading the book,” she said. Macy hopes the series helps the nation finally understand the intricacies of the opioid pandemic and, by shining a light on the subject, that a solution isn’t that far off. “I’ve operated from Virginia for 32 years, but all three of my books were national in scope, and even international for the first one, so I'm used to becoming a kind of quasi-expert on the topics I take on, but just to have the work brought before so many more eyeballs is really exciting.” In some ways, the series serves as a warning to the rest of the world that this can happen, and you need to be advocates for your own health care. They actually have regulations on opioids, so they don't have problems as bad as we do. “We’ve done interviews for hours with journalists in Italy, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, and they're just starting to watch the series because it's a little later airing outside of the United States. She has gained a larger influence as a successful book author, but with “Dopesick” now being featured on Hulu and soon on Disney+, she happily has become an advocate for the victims of the opioid pandemic. Macy, whose work has long sought to bring attention to outsiders and underdogs - the largely voiceless people left behind by growing inequality, technology and globalization - insisted that “Dopesick” was shot on location in Virginia, including parts of Appalachia impacted by the crisis.Īs an award-winning reporter at the Roanoke (Va.) Times for a quarter of a century, her journalism has impacted lives in Virginia and Appalachia. He has the mastery of how to make that come alive on the screen. It was very much a kind of a reporting team endeavor, but he was in charge of the creative. We used other books and we did interviews as people leaked us documents. We did a lot of research together that went far beyond my book. “He has a lot of experience bringing nonfiction projects to the screen, including ‘Game Change,’ ‘Recount,’ ‘The Butler.’ He wrote all of those, and he knows how to take a true story and turn it into a docuseries. “He had another opioid project already going and our visions matched a lot,” said Macy, who earned a Bachelor of Science in journalism from BGSU in 1986. Then, Macy was paired with show runner Danny Strong, best known for creating the Fox drama “Empire” and writing two screenplays for the “Hunger Games” franchise. He really got that it was a cause for me.” “He kept saying that more people will watch the show than read my book. 1 barrier to turning the crisis back,” she said. “I really liked his vision for it because he saw right away that it would help chip away at the stigma of being addicted to opioids, which is still the No. After her book debuted in 2018, there were several offers to option “Dopesick.” Ultimately, Macy went with Warren Littlefield, who also produces “The Handmaid’s Tale” for Hulu.
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