Dear Dealer

[MUSIC] Hi, friends. It's Steph. Before we start today's episode, I wanted to let you know that my new book, Last Day, how to stop losing our loved ones to the opioid crisis based on this very podcast is out now. Since we launched the show seven years ago, we've given people a vocabulary to understand and talk about really hard stuff. And we've learned something pretty revolutionary along the way. That saving lives is possible. That's what the book is about. Preventing overdose, obviously, but also how to make sense of a crisis that feels so senseless and what we need to do to stop it. If Last Day has meant something to you, I hope you'll grab a copy or listen to the audio book narrated by me. Go to bit.ly/lastdaybook or wherever books are sold. I can't wait for you to read it. Okay, now let's get to the show. What's it take to be a mentor with big brothers big sisters? It takes 30 minutes in a cup of coffee, a video game, best two out of three. It takes sharing thumbs up emojis, clapping emojis, and loaded nachos at halftime. That's how you make an impact on a young kid's life. So go on. Share a few hours a month because mentorship may sound huge, but the truth is it takes little to be big. To learn more, volunteer or donate, go to bebignow.org. Well, hi friends. Welcome back to Last Day. Last Day is a show we launched in 2019 about the opioid crisis. Its name comes from the idea of starting with someone's last day and then rewinding the tape, trying to figure out how we could have prevented it. In the earliest episodes, it was an investigation of two specific last days, Stefano Cordova, brother of Jess, and Harris Whittles, brother of mine. Oh, and I'm Steph, Stephanie Whittles-Wax. I'm your host. My brother, Harris, was a writer, a comedian, a gentle, weirdo, genius, boyman who died of a heroin overdose on February 19th, 2015. It's been nearly seven years since we released our first episode of Last Day. Over the years, we've examined other epidemics that are hard to contain and getting worse every day. Mental health and suicide, gun violence. In season four, we started talking about all sorts of last days. Big, huge, unanticipated moments of change, the before times and the afters. Well, we went on hiatus at the end of 2024 because I went off to write a book and guess what? This week, the book comes out. It came out yesterday. It launched into the world and is now sitting on the shelves of bookstores. It's called Last Day, how to stop losing our loved ones to the opioid crisis. It is everything I've learned about opioid use disorder and harm reduction and how to save lives. It is this podcast and all the stuff I've learned since distilled into something you can hold and share and highlight and dog ear and give to a friend or a sibling or a policymaker who needs to understand what to do about this crisis because there are real things we can do. Oh, and also, this is actually very important. I need you to go or to the book or the audiobook narrated by me like right now before we go any further. First week sales genuinely matter. They tell the publisher, the booksellers, the world that this subject has an audience and deserves shelf space. So please go to bit.ly/lastaybook and order your copy. If possible now, you can press pause. I promise I will still be here when you come back. Should I play some hold music? Okay, that's that. Thank you so much for ordering a copy of the book. I so appreciate your support and I hope that you enjoy it. Also, stay tuned to the end of the episode to hear an excerpt from the audiobook read by me. Now, what am I doing here? Well, in honor of the book launch, we are doing four new episodes of last day, revisiting the opioid crisis from a few different angles. It's a throwback mini season and I couldn't be more thrilled to welcome our first guest. Nadia Bowers is an actor and a writer. She had a sister named Sasha who died on July 31, 2015, the same year I lost her. When Sasha died, Nadia was seven months pregnant with her first child. She got married six weeks before. Her birthday was nine days earlier. Nadia has written an absolutely gutting and heartbreakingly beautiful book called Deer Dealer, a memoir. Our losses feel so similar that when I read Nadia's book, it felt like reading my own story. Also, we both picked our kids up from Sleepboy Camp this past weekend, so we're basically twins. I can't wait for you to hear our conversation. Well, hello, friends. Hello, hello, we are here today to talk about such a fun topic, which is our dead siblings, Nadia. We both have this amazing distinction of being in the world's shittiest club and then also publishing books about it, which is I know. And I think we were inaugurated in the club in the same year, too, 2015. Yes, we certainly were. So I am so glad you're here. And also, I'm so sorry that you're here whenever you come on this show, it's like not for a good reason. I have to laugh. You do, you do. We do. Well, anyway, your book is so beautiful, Nadia. It is like absolutely gobsmackingly gorgeous. And you paint this vivid portrait of your sister, Sasha, but to orient our listeners who have not yet read the book, but will after this conversation. Let's start when you were kids. So Sasha was two and a half years older than you. Your family grew up in Bramford, Connecticut. Your mom was a pediatric cardiologist. Your dad was a professor of psychiatry at Yale, a house full of dummies, my gosh. Yeah. Wow. I was like very impressed with your family. Thank you. I'd love to know more about Sasha. So growing up, how would you describe her and characterize your relationship, the two of you? She was that person, like you heard her voice before she entered a room. You know, she had this, this kind of Tasmanian devil, like the gloomy tunes kind of energy, like she entered a room when it was like a wind change, you know, and sometimes that was great. Sometimes it was a lot, but I remember also there's like one family vacation. We have some half siblings and we were with our nieces and nephews. I was with them. They were very little. And I was like hanging out with them and like, you know, playing with them. And then like Sasha showed up. She's like, come storming through the door. She's got carrying cages of guinea pigs and like buckets of arts and crafts. And I was just like, oh, it's fucking over for me. The cool one just walked in and there was a funny game over, exactly. Yeah. And when she discovered this word exuberant, she was like, that's who I am. Her passions for a buffet, a person, a song, a band, a piece of clothing, just one item of food, you know, we had to go to this one county fair every year so she could get her fucking onion rings, you know, and then she would look at a buffet. Yeah, she would look at a buffet and be angry. She'd like, how do I decide? Like, how, why are they doing this to me? And then she would just like consume, you know, fill her plate and then make herself sick because she just couldn't figure out how that, you know, it's fascinating to hear you talk about her because she sounds like my brother. I mean, I talk a lot in my first book in my memoir about how he would do the same thing. His ordering behavior at restaurants was absolutely unhinged. It was like every single fucking dish had to be gotten and everyone, it was like, it was nuts. It was like a, like a sport ordering was a sport. So did it cost some stress? It was just like, yes, let's go. Let's like do it all. Oh, yes, let's go. Yes, let's go. I mean, let's do it all. Like he loved fish and he would go to like a thousand fish concerts. Like everything was just so much all the time, just hedonistic in this way of like exuberance is a great word for it. I think that's right. We always say like he lived so hard for 30 years, like in a good way. Like he juiced a lot out of this life. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. And was he that way in relationships? Tukasasha was as well. Like she loved you hard. All in. All in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd love to talk about her Tourette syndrome because you write about this not being diagnosed until college. And not having the language to describe something that you're experiencing, I think, is really difficult. I wonder what it was like when you two were young and You had no idea and she had no idea why she was doing the things she was doing and what kind of a toll you think that took on her. I really think that that is like this centerpiece in a sort of metaphoric way is this thing you can't control that feels you know she would often let it sort of release it when she was alone or in her car or. One can only imagine it feels like scratching in each and one can only imagine that's probably what it feels like to use. But I think when it first started my parents were both physicians and they knew what it was and I think it was all bless them in the name of protection. So my parents would have kept the name of it from her and I think it was like well she's really smart and I think that we call them Sasha's ticks. Of course I like noticed some a little bit but I was kind of like she's awesome she's my older sister she's so cool like I don't know just like whatever and she is. Yeah so she is like and and I don't think I knew it was a problem until someone I got the vibe and I saw what it did to my parents. Absolutely absolutely I think you write really in this really powerful way sort of linking these two things right like like Sasha's Tourette's and having to mask that and then this delve into substances I mean do you feel like those are linked and when did you sort of first notice that the substances were becoming an issue. I think they're linked also in the sense of self esteem so in terms of like a physical thing I can't necessarily say something conclusive about that but I think that they made her. Feel bad about herself and look we are not dissimilar you know I was experimenting with things to she would just go a little harder you know there was one incident in high school one noticed that like she was getting in trouble she was like you know there was like she was getting caught. Parties and I think she was starting to drink sort of her junior year in high school so I kind of when she started to drink and I think I think alcohol was like oh this must feel really good. I think it probably really soothed her dress in a way and then she went to college and college is like you know there was alcohol in college there was some weed and I talk about this in the book like for a period of time there was each drug that kind of got introduced it seemed like it would work. I think she was drawn to it because I do think it soothed her anxiety about the ticks I think it you know it was relief it was fun and then it really was in her late 30s she got dealt a couple life blows like our dad got diagnosed with cancer she had an engagement break up. And then her father died and all those things boom boom boom and she met someone during that time who introduced her to oxy cotton and came over. It was seven years from that point but the opioids opioids there is a different game. I find it to be absolutely excruciating to sit on the sidelines and watch this happened to someone that you love how were you showing up for her or was it hard to show up for her. You know I think I was just turning a corner in my approach when she died because I was pregnant we've talked about this the overlapping of also having children right at the time that we're losing a sibling. Has been married in June of 2015 Sasha died in July and like a birth in October and leading up to it I was so tired of being angry and I was pregnant and I was having I don't know those feelings of like. I don't want to carry the anger a couple times I sort of arranged or forced some little intervention she agreed to go to rehab again I'm like cool did it you know you know and feeling like cool like I'm we're making some progress here and then those things didn't stick and I thought oftentimes there's so much shitty behavior and I was angry. I was angry really really angry and I was angry she missed our father's funeral we didn't get to mourn him because the day after his memorial we had an intervention for her and I felt like I was alone for a long period of time. 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Get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada and the UK to and when quince asks where you heard about them let them know it was last day it's the best way to support the show. The drug landscape has changed and most parents are working from information that's out of date fake prescription pills made with fentanyl and other dangerous chemicals are promoted on social media pressed to look like Xanax or Adderall. THC vapes can hit 90% nothing like the cannabis we remember. Credom sits on the counter at the gas station marketed as natural and it can be habit forming you don't have to be an expert to start this conversation. Lead with facts not fear teens can tell when you're exaggerating and they tune out. Ask questions listen it's not one big talk it's a series of small ones and morning teens what not to use doesn't teach them what to do instead. Helping them build healthy ways to handle pressure gives them better options the new drug talk is free science back and made to help parents start these conversations. Visit the new drug talk dot org. Hi I'm Elliott Glazer you might recognize me from broad city or my new bestseller the terrible horrible no good very bad gay but if there's one thing I know for sure it is not sports and that's exactly why I'm a new podcast so you think you can sports I sit down with some of the most iconic figures alive Charles Barkley Becky Lynch my greenie green bird because all I really want to know is what's the deal with sports so you think you can sports. New episodes out now wherever you get your podcasts. So now let's go back to July 31st 2015 Sasha's last day. I'm sure you imagine this many times before but that still doesn't prepare you for what's coming can you take me back to that day and paint a picture of what it looked like for you. So yeah, my husband Corey and I had just went up to the Williams town theater festival up in the Brooks years they have a big summer theater festival and they do part of the do our reading series which is like pretty casual that you know this like I think it's like a new play every. On Thursday or Monday I don't know so we stayed at a ben and breakfast that night of the 31st and woke up on August 1st and Corey had gotten a message on his phone or something he was like you know we're all like we're he's like I'm going to get some coffee it was a neighbor. A neighbor across the street from my mom a family another family friend who was called Corey and said please call me back is about Sasha and then Corey came in and told me and I had I had applied for some screen writing thing for like women. Screen writers over 40 and I just got in the email that was like no sorry and I was like oh man and he walked in and I was like I didn't get in any and he just looked like devastated and I was like oh of course I'm. It's okay it's okay maybe like you know I mean wow okay you know but he just like stricken you know I'm like like I know and then I was like oh wait a minute it's not about that my rejection my rejection for my stupid screenplay. Wow you you really care about my career I know he's so supportive he's like he's someone give this woman a job please writing is all she's got left. Right anyway so that's what it was said about it wasn't a parent unfortunately. All right we're getting it together so that's what was wrong so Corey. What does he say to you what what is he so he you know he says down and he was like I have to tell you something he puts his hands on my shoulder and he's like it's about Sasha and I'm like okay and I described this in the book I'm like I'm used to things being about her you know I'm like what she do but this feels different and he said. She was found in her car she couldn't be resuscitated. And that was how the neighbor had said it to him. And later he would say, like, that was really humane because Sasha's dead is clear, you know, but it was, but this was also clear because it was like, the meeting wasn't lost on me. Wait, what does that mean? You know, it was, um, but um, it's succeed in my brain, you know, I think, right? You have that, the moment that you found out, like, you know, exactly what it was and it immediately, oh, yeah, I just started saying no. And I started trying to lift, to breathe so that my baby wouldn't feel it. I wanted to separate, I wanted to separate it out. That was my instinct immediately was like, how can I have this lift out and up and, and, and not, and like, hit me from the ribs down, like, that can't touch me there. You know, yeah, because I was like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna miscarry. And immediately I thought that that was what was going to happen. The first thing was able to say to him after, you know, whaling for what I said, it's just so final, right? Because you're just like, fuck, I think that was the other thing, you know, you get so used to these near misses in our family, it became a thing to do to talk about what was the latest shit, you know, and you get kind of attached to that in a way, because it's your wave. And I think it's a way to feel like you have some power over it, you know? I think about it as like, as an actor too, it's like, like a play, you're only given a certain amount of time, you're giving an ending of some kind, it might not be the end of the person's life, you know, it's the end of a story. And you have to kind of go, we know what the, how will you end up and then you go back and you go, okay, well, what were the things that got them there? And I feel like that's how I've worked in my life. I'm so curious about people like that. How did this happen? How did we get here? How is this the end of the story? In the immediate aftermath, you write that you, you become a detective of sorts and you are trying maniacally to piece together what happened to Sasha and her final hours, which was so relatable. Same, same, same, same, same, same. Of course, yep, right, right. That need to sort out all the facts to uncover every detail of her last day. Where did that come from? And I know you had this huge revelation that the cause of death was fentanyl, eventually, yeah. You know, what was it like to learn that and why the detective? Yeah, you know, there's some part of me that felt like because I wasn't there and I didn't protect her in some way, like, like, I needed to know it was a part of what I owed her in some way that I couldn't just like let it, let it go. I think my anger toward her, especially when I found out it was fentanyl, went toward someone else in it needed to because I couldn't be angry at her anymore. And I wanted to blame something. The detective part of it was that there was this underworld of hers that I kind of, that I, she wouldn't let me into. I even fantasized like before she died, I was like, maybe she'll let me, I want to do a documentary of her life. Maybe she'll like let me do that. I want to get in there and find out what the fuck y'all are up to and what you're doing and what, you know, and like who's who and who are these dudes and like, you know, can I, I want to go in there and I want to like rough some people up and I want to shake them and be like, leave her alone. And she's such a kind person, you know, I think I was also kind of jealous. I was like, y'all, you all know her better than I do. I was there and she chose you. At some point, your focus really does shift to the dealer and, you know, talking about blame. You finally find a target for your anger. And that is the dealer. And you start writing him these letters. When did you start to do that writing and how did you start to sort of fixate on the dealer? You know, it just seems strange to me that there was a person out there who changed my sister's life, obviously, and mine. And I didn't know who they were. And I was like, that bugs me. And I didn't really know what I wanted. I think, you know, did I, did I want that person dead? I didn't think so. It kind of kept changing and like wanting them to look in my eye. I want to see them. I want to see them. I want them to see me. And I think the letters, a lot of them, I just started writing because I didn't know exactly what form the book would take. It was like a weird twisted penpal. It wasn't all anger. It wasn't all like you suck, you know? It was like, Hey, let me tell you about what we did as kids. Hey, let me tell you about this thing that she's doing. What are you doing now during COVID? What's that? He was on my mind all the time. And also weirdly, as I became a mother, I think a lot of my grief was hidden because I didn't want to scare people, all the people who love me, who around me. And so who would be this person, who would totally know what I was talking about? Right. It's like a container for the darkness, a container for all of the things that you, you need to put them somewhere, right? That's such a great way to put it. Hey, it's Julia Louis-Dreyfus from The Wise Are Then Me podcast among other things. And I've got a little holiday wisdom for you. 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If you want to manage your food waste in a cleaner, calmer way, this holiday season, go to mill.com/wisor for an exclusive offer. That's mill.com/wisor. Happy hosting. Hi, I'm Elliott Glazer. You might recognize me from Broad City or my new bestseller, The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Gay. But if there's one thing I know for sure, it is not sports. And that's exactly why I'm a new podcast, so you think you can sports. I sit down with some of the most iconic figures alive. Charles Barkley, Becky Lynch, Mike Reeny Greenberg. Because all I really want to know is, what's the deal with sports? So you think you can sports, new episodes out now or ever you get your podcasts. You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit. Or you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean? I'm Eliza Orlands, Career Public Defender. And I'm Taya Johnson, Law Professor and Legal Analyst. And on our brand new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about. No legal degree required, just curiosity. Criminally Online, Wherever You Get Your Podcasts. We really, we have a lot of similarities in our stories. Nadia, I mean, when my first child who was born, let's see, she was born in January 2014. So she was 13 months when my brother died. But when she was one month old, she went to his first rehab. And the worst of his addiction happened, like when he shifted to heroin and when it got really, really dark and bad was when she was an infant, a newborn. She had some other stuff going on with her health. And it just felt like everything that I thought that was supposed to be when you become a new mom was shattered and it was not. And you write really, really pointedly about the anxiety you say, mostly, I fret. And I think that might have been the most relatable line of the whole book as I was reading it. I was like, that is my entire experience of being a new mom. And I'm wondering, are you like naturally anxious? Or do you think it would have been there had you not just lost Sasha? Like was the birth and death being so closely and inextricably linked is something that I don't know, I understood it when you wrote about it. And I'd like you to talk a little bit about that experience. I think anxiety runs in my family. And after she died, it was like the worst thing happened. The thing that I worried about happening happened. So now I have evidence that. It can happen and my worrying about it doesn't do shit, but that only makes me worry more. I mean, what's interesting about that? I've written these exact words, what you're saying, but that sense was so prevalent. Like, yes, the worst thing can happen. How is anybody alive? Right. Why are we here? You guys, everybody get underground because danger is coming. Take this bubble wrap. Yeah. I mean, like, all the worst case, I really stopped driving when my baby was a baby because I was certain that the car was going to crash and that has actually persisted. I don't drive. I drive very, very, very little and I get so psychotic in cars. But anyway, I'm a treat on a road trip. My husband loves having me on the passenger seat, literally like, "Oh, it's not that car. Did you not see that? It's coming over. He's going to get lost." "Oh, we should go on a road trip together and put them in the car together and you and I can just. " "I'm going to the fuck it's going to drive. I'm going to the fuck it's going to drive. Put them in the front. We'll sit in the back." "There we go. And just make their lives so miserable." Hell. Anyway, what happened was that when we got to the year anniversary of my brother's death and after I had lived a year, because I did my maniacal writing in the nine months after my brother died and it was like very, very raw and very grief-stricken. But what happened was when I got to the anniversary, I had this aha, which was that, "Oh my gosh, we're all going to die. Oh, we're all going to die. Oh." And also, nothing matters and my worrying doesn't matter. I can worry all I want and people still die. So, you know what, fuck it. I actually don't care anymore. I'm going to do whatever I want. I'm quitting my job. Nothing matters. I literally was released from a lifetime of crippling anxiety in such a weird way. And I don't know if I hadn't written excavated my own darkness and demons, you know, if I ever would have gotten there, but it really did like shift something. And I'm wondering, did you have that shift, did that not familiar at all? It does. And I'm still kind of in that new, those new waters a little bit because the book was really finished this last spring. I handed it in and I felt a sort of likeness that was different and I was going to drive somewhere five hours. And I was just, I didn't say anything about leading up to it, usually I was like, okay, okay, like worst case scenario, like all these things freaking out a little bit, like what was all going to go wrong? How the different ways I was going to die, the, you know, all and and I was just noticing and watching. I was like, hmm, I'm like, okay, I'm just packing up the car and I'll see you guys in a little bit. And I just, I drove and I got there and I was like, I'm good. And I didn't like, white knuckle it and I was like, oh, this is new. And I think it is exactly what you're saying is this dance between, I think this is where we live now is that everything is so precious and it doesn't mean anything. And we hear it all the time, but you went, but you, but something needs to happen where you feel it in your cells and in your bones and that's right, I think, you know, and then it, because you, because it can be a thing like, you know, live life to your fullest, you know, every day is your last day, like, oh, it's like fucking bullshit unless you really, you know, right? I know, except, except then I started being like, oh, my God, I totally get those things. And I'm like the most cynical, but I was like, yeah, life is short, yeah, absolutely. It is. It is. It's wild that we're all even here, how it's wild, it's wild. It's wild. Cool. And so cool. And not be here soon. And exact like a such a blip and we're all, you know, I even struggled with that with writing about my sister, you know, I'm like, there's so many amazing people who are gone from this world. So many, you know, but I do think that we in sharing our specific stories, we, I do believe it joins people together and that is part of, you know, part of what all this is about, you know, right? Part of it is relishing, yeah, being alive here now, you know, well, you, you taught me this amazing word that I didn't know I'd been using that, but I have a shunt pu shunt. I love. I want you to speak French all the time. Shunt. I'm so bad at it. You know, you're so adorable. Okay, shunt. Okay. And you're, you guys can see her lips. It's like really cute. Yeah. So cute. Um, but it means, tell us what that means because it's so beautiful and I think it's so relevant to what we've been talking about. It's exactly. This is exactly right. It's a shunt, shunt is to sing and pluré plur is to cry and it means to sing for your tears or shunt pluré. Yeah. And it's like, that was a word I learned on my own and I was like, whoa, wait, what? And like that, if you can live in that place, then you figure something out. You know, we don't always get there, you know, but if you can connect to that and because you will, everyone will lose. We will all have loss if we're lucky enough to live long enough. I mean, that's the sort of trick, right? That's right. Nothing for free. No way, baby. Yeah. No way, baby. Yeah. So if you can find a way to still sing through those tears because life is still miraculous and we are still here, then I think we're doing something okay. You know. Absolutely. I think that is the most beautiful and poignant place to end. But I do want to say before we wrap, you wrote this amazing book and everybody needs to purchase it and read it and inhale it in one weekend like I did. So how can we get a copy? Yeah. Tell us where to find your stuff. Yeah. Thank you. It's with gallery books. It comes out officially September 15th, just a month after yours. And pre-orders really help so everybody pre-order an audience book. Yes. Those are very helpful. I mean, I think they should buy ours together. 100%. Well, we're going to drop them both in the show notes, by the way, the links. Okay. Great. Great. Yeah. There's a link with Simon and Schuster. I have a website, NadiaBowers.com. My events will be announced soon, surrounding the book. And there might be something that we could use. And yeah. Okay. I like that. Yes. We're taking our show on the road. I know it's a good word. You said they tried to come into a city near you. It's actually improv. It has nothing to do with dead siblings. Actually, maybe that's the name of it, dead siblings. Dead siblings. Dead siblings. I love that. That's great. Now that's a good place to end. That's great. God. You're amazing. You're amazing. I've admired you for so long. You're a cheat. Thank you forever. Okay. Bye. One more bite. Thanks so much for listening. It feels really good to be back. You can pick up a copy of Nadia's book, Dear Dealer, available wherever books are sold, or listen to the audio book, Narrated by Nadia. Last day is a production of Lemonada Media. I'm your host, Stephanie Whittles-Wax. Executive producers are me, Kristen LePore, and Jessica Cordova-Cramer. Our producer is Hannah Boomer-Shine. Bobby Woody mixed this episode. Music is by Hannah's Brown. Maggie Crowshore is our Senior Director of Partnerships. You can help others find our show by leaving us a rating and writing a review. Check us out online at Lemonada Media, and you can find me at Whittles-Stephanie, W-I-T-T-E-L-S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week. Hey, it's Steph. Real quick, before you go, I want to share an excerpt from my new book, Last Day, How to Stop Losing Our Loved Ones to the opioid crisis. It tells the story of losing my brother, Harris, the journey to creating this podcast, and the conversations that have helped so many of us understand addiction, recovery, and what it takes to prevent overdose. So please enjoy this sneak peek into what you'll get when you pick up a copy or listen to the audio book, narrated by me. We hear about the opioid crisis so often that we've become desensitized to it. It's a headline, a political pawn, a collection of tally marks that stand where our loved ones should be. Overdose deaths in the United States can be broken into three phases. Dr. prescribed oxycontin, starting in the 1990s, heroin taking hold in 2010, and fentanyl, which surfaced in 2013 and spread like wildfire in 2016. The Sacklers, who owned the pharmaceutical company that developed, produced, and aggressively marketed oxycontin, may have lit the match, but our broken system allowed it to burn. Since 1999, this preventable tragedy has claimed more than 800,000 lives. My little brother was one of them. Get your copy of last day at bit.ly/lastdaybook, or wherever books or audio books. are sold.