© 2024 KALW 91.7 FM Bay Area
KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Your Call

Media Roundtable: Who is responsible for the opioid epidemic?

  On this edition of  Your Call’s media roundtable, the Guardian’s Chris McGreal discusses his new book, American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts.

McGreal focuses on how Purdue's OxyContin, the world's most powerful narcotic painkiller, has devastated poor communities in Appalachia. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug overdoses killed 70,237 people last year, and more than 49,000 of those deaths involved opioids. The United States consumes more than 80 percent of the world’s opioid painkillers, yet accounts for less than five percent of the world's population. Who should be held responsible for this ongoing tragedy?

Guest:

Chris McGreal, writer for Guardian US, former Guardian correspondent in Washington, Johannesburg and Jerusalem, and author of American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts

Web Resources:

The Guardian: America’s opioid crisis is a warning to the NHS. Don’t let big pharma loose on policy

The Guardian: Sackler family members face mass litigation and criminal investigations over opioids crisis

 

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.