Opiates for the masses

Constructing a Market for Prescription (Pain)killers

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2181507
AutoresMelina Sherman (0000-0001-9867-5337, University of Southern California, autor de correspondencia)
Año2017
Volumen10
Número6
Páginas485-497
Fecha de publicación2017-11-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Cultural Economy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1753-0350 • E-ISSN: 1753-0369
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17530350.2017.1352010
OpenAlexW2736016399
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas24

This paper examines the discursive and material construction of the ongoing US opioid epidemic. It argues that the epidemic cannot be understood apart from the reciprocal relation of cultural and economic processes that have made possible the formation of a market for prescription painkillers. Through an analysis of the articulation and interaction of medical, cultural, political, and market discourses, the author shows how these have been mobilized within a network of actors and institutions in ways that govern the economic life of opioid products. Dramatic transformations in the domain of pain management have coincided with shifting attitudes toward drug use in popular culture and transformations in health and regulatory policy to orchestrate the materiality of an enormous market for opioid products and make intelligible the problem of a nationwide ‘epidemic’ of opioid use and abuse

Business · Medical prescription · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Nursing · Opioid Use Disorder Treatment · Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes