Dark History

The Painkiller Problem: How Fentanyl Took Over America (5x3)

Air date: Jan 23, 2025

Last year I had a surgery so that I could breathe again, and it’s been nice, thanks for asking! I love breathing. But when I was in the hospital, the doctors gave me some really strong pain medication. I asked what it was, and the doctor told me it was fentanyl. At first I was like..fentanyl??? Doesn't that kill everyone? But after a few seconds hey… this is working really well. Turns out, Fentanyl has been used in hospitals for a LONG time. It’s used in epidurals, it’s prescribed for cancer patients, and there was a time when doctors were even putting it in LOLLIPOPS. Even though it feels like fentanyl came out of nowhere over the last few years, it has a long and crazy history. So how did America, big pharma, and a well meaning scientist create the most powerful and deadly opioid in history? WHERE is this stuff even coming from? And how did the fentanyl epidemic become a problem too big to stop?