Killing Pain: Understanding the Opioid Pandemic and the American Obsession with Oxycontin, Heroin, and Other Painkillers

A man plumbs the depths in a struggle with opioid addiction in this searing memoir.

Hayward was sober after decades of heavy drinking and owned a swimming pool construction business in Southern California when, in the early 2000s, he started taking the opioid OxyContin for back pain. The drug eliminated the pain and induced a euphoric high, but while it was touted as nonaddictive, it proved quite the opposite. The author was soon snorting huge quantities every day to appease his craving; ste...