Painkiller Episode 3: This episode gives respect to a young boy named Patrick who died at the age of 24 due to his OxyContin addiction. Let’s recap this episode to understand how law enforcement works against the Sackler family.
Let’s start the episode with Glen, who has been admitted to the hospital. The doctor understands that he is on a high dose, so she invites the detox team. When things aren’t going well, Glen makes a wise decision. He throws all the pills in the pan and flushes them. However, stopping this addiction isn’t easy. He goes to the doctor and takes the medicine again.
Arthur Sackler became a master at occupying the market. Richard is just following his lead. But the CIA has an eye on him, so he follows the “MICE” rule, which means “Money, Ideology, Coercion & Ego.” They start targeting Curtis Wright because they want him to give full approval from the US Government for this medicine. As Curtis is a scientist, he is unable to accept their offer, but the Sackler team still tries to manipulate him. Later, they invite Curtis to establish a formal relationship. They invite Curtis to a hotel that is between Washington DC and Norwalk. What happened in the room isn’t revealed in this series, but after that, Curtis approves their medicine for the market.
However, he leaves the FDA a year after OxyContin was approved and started working for Purdue. So, Richard Sackler is not unstoppable; he introduces a big party for everyone. In front of everyone, he announces that after 11 months, the FDA approved OxyContin and now it’s a very useful medicine in the market.
Soon it becomes America’s fastest-growing drug, and news media around the world start talking about it. Later, we see Purdue Pharma Company becoming a giant corporation. This is how Richard Sackler achieved success. They start organizing group meetings in some of America’s big hotels.
Also Read: Painkiller Episode 1: Recap and Ending Explained
On the other side, we see the life of Shannon. She is frustrated because, after working for Purdue for a long time, her income is still not increasing. Britt tells her to sell more according to the dose. If higher doses are sold, her salary will also increase. Shannon starts working on this and begins talking with doctors to increase the doses. She asks doctors to prescribe more so that her medical business can also grow. But she notices some teenage girls are taking this medicine as a drug.
She understands the destruction this is causing and talks to Britt about it, but Britt supports her. While Shannon says that people are taking these medicines more and more every day, regardless of whether they are in pain or just using them as drugs. Hearing this, Britt becomes happy and tells Shannon to focus on selling, because if the number of patients increases, the sales of these drugs will also increase.
One night, she receives a call from Deborah Marlowe from Howard Udell’s office. This is because Mr. Udell wants to meet with her.
Law enforcement is unable to target Richard Sackler. Later, Edie has a new boss, a US attorney from Virginia named John Brownlee. Edie meets her new boss and informs him that she is working on OxyContin, which is a “Schedule 2 narcotic,” and it’s being prescribed too much. John has a problem with this, as the FDA isn’t investigating this medicine, so why is Edie doing it? Doctors are recommending this medicine for any type of ailment, so its sales are increasing too much. Meanwhile, deaths are gradually increasing, and everyone is dying for the same reason.
More From Painkiller: Painkiller Episode 2: Recap, Story and Ending Explained
Shawn used to sell cocaine, so he ended up in prison. Edie sometimes thinks about this and becomes angry. The next day, Edie meets with John and informs him that unemployment and crime are increasing day by day. The addiction to OxyContin is increasing along with the destruction of the city, which could start an epidemic of opioids.
Nothing worked; Glen starts taking more pills. Edie asks John to pursue a case against Purdue Pharma Company. We also see Dr. Fitzgibbons, who strongly advises against taking this medicine, witnessing a young girl becoming addicted and dying in front of his house. On the other side, let’s see why Mr. Udell wants to meet with Shannon.
