--- title: The Public Is Angry About the Opioid Crisis. We Must Listen description: A conversation with Chris McGreal, author of "American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts," about preventing the next opioid crisis canonical: https://time.com/5525205/opioid-crisis-american-overdose-book/ author: Paul Moakley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-08T20:31:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:43:34.839Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Public Is Angry About the Opioid Crisis. We Need to Listen og:description: They consider it a betrayal, says Chris McGeal, author of "American Overdose" og:url: https://time.com/5525205/opioid-crisis-american-overdose-book/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfeb6c651f9698adc/698944d209208fbec74134c3/opioid-crisis-book-anger-medical-pharmaceutical-companies-pharma.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Opioid crisis protestors og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Public Is Angry About the Opioid Crisis. We Need to Listen twitter:description: They consider it a betrayal, says Chris McGeal, author of "American Overdose" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfeb6c651f9698adc/698944d209208fbec74134c3/opioid-crisis-book-anger-medical-pharmaceutical-companies-pharma.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Public Is Angry About the Opioid Crisis. We Need to Listen  by [Paul Moakley](https://time.com/author/paul-moakley/)  ## Paul Moakley Feb 8, 2019 8:31 PM UTC  At City Hall in New York, NY, advocates protest Mayor Bill de Blasio's stance on supervised consumption sites as a public health intervention on Apr. 12, 2018. At City Hall in New York, NY, advocates protest Mayor Bill de Blasio's stance on supervised consumption sites as a public health intervention on Apr. 12, 2018.Erik McGregor—Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images  by [Paul Moakley](https://time.com/author/paul-moakley/)  ## Paul Moakley Feb 8, 2019 8:31 PM UTC Chris McGreal, a veteran reporter for the _Guardian_, explores in his recent book [_American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1610398610/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1610398610&linkId=fc4615ae9d96f2ebf30dddc407b1866e) how many Americans have been left feeling enraged by the people who caused the ongoing [opioid crisis](http://time.com/5168385/macklemore-compassion-rehab-opioid-crisis/). “They’re very angry at what they consider betrayal,” McGreal tells TIME. “Betrayal by the medical profession for having given them these drugs without the warnings of what might follow. Anger at the companies that marketed them. Anger at the [government](http://time.com/5351906/opioid-prescriptions-sprained-ankles/) for ignoring them for a very long time whilst their communities were devastated.” The list continues of institutions that either didn’t appreciate the [impact](http://time.com/4211759/white-house-opioids-tom-vilsack/) that opioids were having on American society, or didn’t act soon enough as the problem emerged. Joining books like [_Dreamland_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1620402521/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1620402521&linkId=f995669c3a2c1c14fc765834fb23d715) by Sam Quinones, [_Pain Killer_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525511105/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525511105&linkId=f8dc7098638c8ad8b9c64495731b296b) by [Barry Meier](http://time.com/5311359/purdue-pharma-oxycontin-lawsuit-opioid-crisis/) and [_Dopesick_ ](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316551309/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0316551309&linkId=a767d5da38480ea8c43bcf1299bd3cdc)by Beth Macy, _American Overdose_ investigates how the opioid epidemic grew for over 20 years and looks for the systemic [causes](http://time.com/5015103/compassion-is-missing-from-the-opioid-crisis-conversation/) through the voices of the leading experts fighting back. McGreal says the book is “a warning of what happens when you allow money to control medical policy, instead of doctors.” While the warning may be too late for this crisis, it may help prevent [future](http://time.com/5000130/opioid-crisis-suicide/) epidemics — if we learn the right lessons. McGreal has concerns, though, about how some in the medical industry are now finding new ways to aid and profit from recovery. Some unqualified rehabilitation centers are exploiting the surge in those needing opioid addiction treatment, but aren’t providing evidence-based [therapies](http://time.com/money/longform/parents-opioid-addiction-money-cost/). He also worries that policymakers may be leaning too heavily on medically assisted [treatments](http://time.com/5313857/methadone-babies-opioids/) — medications designed to wean addicts off opioids — without providing addicts the support they need to properly use the medications to conquer their addiction. Given how little the government is investing in helping people, McGreal worries that a whole new problem could develop. “There seems to be a body of opinion building up that \[medically assisted treatments\] actually are much more effective than simply an abstinence-based 12-Step program,” he says. “But that takes resources, right? If you’re going to be giving people who are caught in addiction more drugs, it’s got to be a very carefully controlled and very carefully monitored thing.” For McGreal, the solutions lie within the creation of new health care [policies](http://time.com/5299363/opioids-young-adults-deaths/) created by doctors and not business that are profiting. 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