Dreamland The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic Book Club Guide, Discussion Questions,

VHA Multidisciplinary Pain Clinics: physical therapy, acupuncture, massage, social workers aid, psychological counselors aid. Pg 308

The Science / Background Behind the Morphine Molecule

“Like no other particle on earth, the morphine molecule seemed to possess heaven and hell. It allowed for modern surgery, saving and improving too many lives to count. It stunted and ended too many lives to count with addiction and overdose.” Pg 36

“As the mature poppy’s petals fall away, a golf­ball sized bulb emerges atop the stem. The bulb houses a goo that contains opium. From opium, humans have derived laudanum, codeine, thebaine, hydrocodone, oxymorphone, and heroin.” Pg 38

The use of OxyContin by middle­ and upper­class white people led to widespread use of heroin.

It changed the market ­­ it was no longer just older addicts using the drug. Pg 91

The FDA let Oxy­Contin claim on the bottle that it had a lower potential for abuse due to the time releasing formula. Pg 126

Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to “misbranding” OxyContin and paid a 634.5 million dollar fine.

Pg 267

The Xalisco Boys of Nayarit

Ranchos were villages on the outskirts of civilization. Throughout history, rancheros had moved to the outback to escape the towns’ stifling classism. They formed outposts and tried to carve a living from tough land that no one else wanted. Rancheros embodied Mexico’s best pioneering embrace. They were dedicated to escaping poverty, usually by finding a way to be their own bosses.” Pg 20

The Xalisco traffickers spent as little money in America as possible as their dream was generally to move back to Mexico to build larges houses and provide for their families. Pg 46

Enrique’s uncles had him running the business: “roll the heroin into balloons, take calls, direct drivers on the street. The phone rang all day until he shut it down at eight P.M. As he turned 15, he was taking orders for five thousand dollars’ worth of heroin a day.” Pg 49

The first Xalisco migrants landed in the San Fernando Valley of California illegally working jobs in construction, restaurants, etc. Back in Xalisco Mexico, sons didn’t want to continue working in the sugarcane fields and saw that heroin was a prosperous business and left. Opium grew really