NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money.

I'm Stacey Vannick Smith.

The opioid epidemic has been raging for decades in the US.

Opioid overdoses are now one of the top causes of death among Americans ages 18 to 45.

A bunch of drug companies and doctors have been accused of aggressive marketing and over

prescribing the drug.

And a new book gives us a window into exactly how this happens.

The hard sell.

Crime and punishment at an opioid startup explores one drug maker, a small startup, and looks

at how this company marketed its powerful opioid and became a Wall Street sensation.

And then how the company fell apart and its top executives ended up in jail.

We talk with author Evan Hughes about the business of opioids after the break.

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And Hughes author of the hard sell, thank you for joining us.

So your book centers around this little company incess.

And they had this one drug subsist, which was a liquid opioid sold in a little spray bottle

because she'd sprayed into your mouth.

...