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Opioids: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Opioids: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

LastWeekTonight
5 HN recommenders · discussed 2016–2024
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About this video

A Last Week Tonight segment on the US opioid epidemic, tracing how prescription painkillers fed addiction and heroin use. It is the first of three episodes the show devoted to the crisis.

Why it appears in the archive

HN points to it as an informative, fact-heavy overview of the opioid crisis and Purdue Pharma.

AI-generated summary and labels from the source dataset; verify important details against the video. Source & credits.

From the Hacker News discussion

pagade · 2024-07 · strong rec

I recently watched these 3 episodes of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Highly recommended. Opioids III: The Sacklers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ( [LINK] ) Opioids II: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ( [LINK] ) Opioids: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ( [VIDEO] )

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btgeekboy · 2016-12 · rec

John Oliver did a segment on Opioids that's pretty informative. Have a look: [VIDEO] The quick answer though is that it starts with prescription painkillers that are highly addictive.

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drvdevd · 2017-01 · rec

> (under heavy regulation) ... and this is where most Heroin addicts start, actually, through prescription opiate use. Once a physical addiction is formed, heroin can be a cheaper or more accessible alternative to a prescription for say, Oxycontin. I thought John Oliver had a good segment on it: [VIDEO]

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partycoder · 2017-03 · rec

John Oliver spoke about this in depth: [VIDEO] Humor aside, he managed to compile an impressive amount of testimonials and facts.

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dstick · 2021-12 · rec

Good. For those that haven't watched them yet, there are 3 John Oliver segments on the subject that will back up the "Good." statement: Opioids [VIDEO] Opioids II [LINK] Opioids III (this one focuses 100% on the Sacklers) [LINK]

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thrownblown · 2016-10 · reference

methadone gets you just as high as heroin. the only difference is that its made by in a lab pharmaceuticals companies and controlled by the government. and methadone withdrawal is fatal too. this recent John Oliver piece on opiods holds a lot of truth: [VIDEO] Benzodiazepines are far more addictive than opioids, and while their abuse has declined a bit, a lot of people still abuse xanax and klonopin, and before that valium. that' a lot of doctors directly and indirectly enabling all those addicts. why hasn't the war on drugs taken on the opioid and benzo manufacturers? it makes me wonder why pharmaceutical companies and their executives aren't locked up like the drug kingpins they are?

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sillysaurus3 · 2017-10 · reference

For more on this, see [VIDEO] "How many people here moved from prescription drugs to heroin?" Everybody raised their hands.

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yskchu · 2021-12 · reference

Besides that episode, he made two others about the Opioid Crisis / Purdue Pharma / Sacklers, 3 in total since 2016: 2016: [VIDEO] 2019: [LINK] 2021: [LINK] In addition there's some sites made by them as well (referred to in the video): [LINK] (with Bryan Cranston, Michael Keaton, Richard Kind, Michael K Williams) [LINK]

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