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OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Avinza – these are just some of the brand name painkillers that have become wildly popular in the US.

You may have heard of them, or maybe been prescribed a dose, here in South Africa, but our usage numbers are nothing like what we see happening in the land of the free.

Mexican drug cartels are capitalising on the opioid crisis north of their border, and the body bags are stacking up.

As part of their War on Drugs series, VICE has focused its latest segment on the crisis:

This is the story of the North America Opioid Crisis – how an oversupply of the prescription drug oxycodone collided with fifty years of drug prohibition to create an epidemic every bit as serious as COVID-19.

This terrifying crisis reaches every corner of American life, far beyond the clichés of the ‘inner-city drug user’.

You’ll see Purdue Pharma mentioned below, and earlier in the month, the OxyContin-maker reached an $8,3 billion settlement with the US Justice Department after pleading guilty to three felonies.

That will do little to ease the pain of families who have lost loved ones, as greedy drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacists, and doctors profited from overprescription and abuse on a truly staggering scale.

If you’re after a quick explainer of how the country has arrived at this point, this video does the trick:

[source:vice]