The facts speak for themselves, but Hulu got some big names to act ’em out in Dopesick, its upcoming look at the first wave of the opioid crisis. Academy Award nominee Michael Keaton, Michael Stuhlbarg, Peter Sarsgaard, Will Poulter, Kaitlyn Dever, John Hoogenakker, and Rosario Dawson will star in the new series directed by Barry Levinson and written and executive-produced by Danny Strong. Inspired by journalist Beth Macy’s New York Times best-selling book of the same name, Dopesick examines how just one major pharmaceutical company caused the worst drug epidemic in American history (you know, our present reality). The teaser trailer sees the effects from the boardrooms, to the people lined up in pain, to the DEA’s intervention. The opioid-overdose crisis in the United States has led to over 500,000 deaths since 1999, according to the CDC. Over 70 percent of drug-overdose deaths in 2019 involved opioids — drugs like morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, heroin, and fentanyl — killing nearly 50,000 people. That’s six times the number of opioid-related overdose deaths in the ’90s, when Dopesick takes place. Sure would be nice of a streaming service *cough* owned by Disney *cough* to donate toward recovery support, wouldn’t it? Can’t end a drug crisis with clout.
