Author: Emily Hogin
Like a lot of people from families affected by addiction, I cried when I read that Philip Seymour Hoffman died. The details of his relapse and death are chilling: after 23 years sober, he told TMZ a year ago that he had fallen off the wagon after taking prescription painkillers and checked himself into a rehab facility. Tragically, in the struggle between his sobriety and his disease, the disease won—he was found dead earlier this month after an apparent heroin overdose.
Seymour Hoffman’s death got headlines because he is famous, but his death is also, sadly, part of a growing epidemic of drug abuse fueled by prescription drugs. Below is a roundup of some of the best longreads on the subject of prescription drug abuse and how public policy can fight it.