Killer Drugs: Tackling Opioid Addiction and Overdose (Documentary)

I produced this documentary about the origins of the nation’s opioid epidemic in 2014, and it seems not much has changed since then except for a growing awareness of the problem and some new tools and laws to address it. I was one of the first in my region to report from the frontlines. The Providence Phoenix said of my work: “..crisply produced and sharply reported…Gourlay visits the ER at Rhode Island Hospital to interview a doctor about the seesawing concerns—proper pain treatment vs. preventing addiction and abuse—he must consider when prescribing painkillers. She also rides along with a police offer in Quincy, Massachusetts (one of the first U.S. towns to equip its force with Narcan) who describes the involuntary gasps, or “agonal breathing,” he encounters at the scene of an overdose Along the way, she pauses, rewinds, and leads listeners through a history of opiates, from ancient pain treatments derived from poppy plants through Shakespearean references to “drowsy syrups” to the modern-day pharmaceutical Goliaths that aggressively marketed drugs like OxyContin to family practitioners who had little expertise in treating addiction.” Thank you, Phoenix!