Nearly a decade into the second wave of America's opioid epidemic, pharmaceutical companies are finally being forced to answer for the crisis they created. The pending multi-district litigation against opioid makers, distributors, and retailers could result in tens of millions of dollars to help treat the disease of addiction and provide communities across America with resources to help those struggling with addiction. And yet there is no consensus on the best treatment available to help addicted people, nor an understanding of how to scale the programs that have proven successful.

In this talk, Macy examines what happens when political forces beyond the control of individuals come to define generations of Americans. This complex story of public health, big pharma, dark money, politics, race, and class will take the story of DOPESICK into the present day, showing that the increase in the number of overdose deaths during the COVID pandemic illustrates the tremendous need across America to change the conditions that make addiction so prevalent and which prevent those seeking treatment to begin new lives.

Beth Macy explores how America's twenty-plus year struggle with opioid addiction started, how it spread from the inner-city to the distressed small communities in Central Appalachia to wealthy suburbs; and it’s heartbreaking trajectory that illustrates how this national crisis has persisted for so long and become so firmly entrenched. Through unsparing, yet deeply human portraits of the families and first responders struggling to ameliorate this epidemic, each facet of the crisis comes into focus. In these politically fragmented times, Beth Macy shows, astonishingly, that the only thing that unites Americans across geographic and class lines is opioid drug abuse. But in the end, Macy still finds reason to hope - and see’s signs of the spirit and tenacity necessary to build a better future for communities, families and those addicted. 

Beth Macy explores the takeaways she learned from writing “Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local — and Helped Save an American Town.” The book set out to answer two questions: What is the untold aftermath of offshoring some 5 million manufacturing jobs? And was there another way? Drawing upon two years of research, including meticulous reporting and hundreds of interviews with everyone from displaced workers to American and Chinese CEOs, Macy tells the story of two factory towns in Virginia, run largely by different branches of the same family tree. One branch offshored nearly all its domestic production, putting 8,500 people out of work. The other successfully kept its flagship factory going. What are the lessons we can draw from these two business/family stories?