Netflix Tip of the Day: The Pharmacist

Yesterday I wrote about Painkillers on Netflix, and about how much I recommend it. This is a fictional series (with some ‘real’ names here and there) about the opioid epidemic in America, something that is still a major problem in 2023. In that same vein, I have another tip for you, a true crime docu: The Pharmacist.

This docuseries has been online for a while, so it might be familiar to you. The Pharmacist follows Dan Schneider in his quest to find his son's murderer. He is a pharmacist in a small town and lost his son in a drug-related shooting in New Orleans. This quest begins in 1999, when the opioid epidemic in the United States was already very much alive, but mostly flew under the radar.

Dan Schneider starts to find it suspicious that more and more young, healthy people are coming to his pharmacy for high doses of OxyContin (the painkiller that is also central to Painkillers) — on prescription from their doctor. These painkillers are extremely addictive, and as a pharmacist, Dan Schneider knows that all too well. Add to that the fact that he learns more and more about his son's addiction, and he becomes determined to save his hometown from these people who are losing themselves in their addiction to painkillers.

It's a far-from-your-bed show, and thankfully so, because we don't have that opioid epidemic in the Netherlands. But still, this docuseries is extremely interesting to watch; I still can't believe how bizarre everything surrounding prescribed medications is in America. Highly recommended.