Generation Rx: A Story of Dope, Death, and America’s Opiate Crisis

As the opiate epidemic takes an increasingly strong hold on American families, Erin Daly’s investigation into what happened to her younger brother is as important as ever.

What had happened to my baby brother? How did a tiny little pill shatter our family?When did we first begin losing Pat?These are the harrowing questions that plagued Erin Marie Daly after her youngest brother Pat, an OxyContin addict, was found dead of a heroin overdose at the age of twenty. In just a few short years, the powerful prescription painkiller had transformed him from a fun-loving ball of energy to a heroin addict hell-bent on getting his next fix. Erin set out on a painful personal journey, turning a journalistic eye on her brother’s addiction; in the process, she was startled to discover a new twist to the ongoing prescription drug epidemic. That kids are hooked on prescription drugs is nothing new; what is new is how a generation of young people playing around with today’s increasingly powerful opioids are finding themselves in the frightening grip of heroin.

With a new introduction and updated notes, Generation Rx explores what the opiate epidemic is doing to our youth, and just how inextricably tied OxyContin and Heroin really are.