The way he says “that will knock you out, but for me it barely takes off the edge” is scary in many ways

That moment when you sell it so well, you sell it to yourself.

Now you know why he was salesman of the year - half of the commenters are actually convinced by him that he's a good guy

These drugs aren't dangerous because they're addictive, they're dangerous because nobody told people they were addictive and doctors handed them out like candy

Lol , What do you know the oxy salesman is addicted to Oxy

Rule Number 4 - Never get high on your own supply

Let this guy know my cousin passed away a few months back at the age of 30 he started using OxyContin when he was 14 and the addiction struggles ruined his life for the following 16 years until he finally succumbed and died from infection related to shooting heroin. He had tried to get clean countless times.

I’m 25. The number of families of kids I grew up with absolutely destroyed saddens me. Dozens of families where the mom or dad was on an opioid that led to their children and or themselves become addicted to not only pills but heroin breaks my heart.

It’s so weird watching this and then watching Dopesick and seeing everything that this guy is talking about

I worked in the pharmaceutical industry from 2002-2014 and witnessed this entire epidemic skyrocket. The main issue with this is that oxy kept being promoted as an extremely low addiction pain killer..meanwhile Purdue knew all along they were lying.

My Dad was on Oxy after years of battling back pain. Then came his major surgery inserting a steel rod to his spine. More pills prescribed for the rest of his life. His daily dosage became so powerful to maintain everyday life. It was unbearable. I drove him to his dr appt each month to sign off on his Rx. By law, he needed a driver. He stated many times he wished he had never had the back surgery. Dad passed away in 2020 from a massive heart attack. Meanwhile my stepson in his 20s stole his granny’s painkillers and overdosed and died. I’ll never forget the call. It’s a sobering moment in time. Sadly. I hate pills!

Yeah, one look at his house and I can tell immediately why he doesn't regret his work. Not a single sincere bone in his body.

Would love to see a follow up with this guy seeing him dealing with the withdrawal symptoms

LOL @ "Oxy salesman of the year". I know a few dudes who'll probably rival him and will gladly fight him for that title 😂

I was working as a surgeon during the Oxy years. I owned and operated my own Medicare Certified Surgical Center. I cannot understand why fellow physicians would be "hoodwinked" into thinking that Oxycontin was not addictive. That is ridiculous. Their so-called "1percent" addictive rate is not matched by the science. The actual addictive rate is about 10-12% of the population. it is remarkably consistent over generations. I did a lot of (painful) bone and joint procedures, osteotomies and joint replacements. I prescribed narcotics for years. But I used them in the same framework that I had presented to me in medical school and during my surgical residency, which was at a VA and Army hospital. I was never approached by an Oxy salesperson. I would just have said NO, I won't go. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA) Retired surgeon

Im only 32 years old and i grew up in a well off area. 14 of my friends are now dead because of opioid overdose. Mostly from fentanyl because its all they could find (or they were fake oxy's with fentanyl). But it all started with real prescription oxy for them.I will always rememeber the day 2 of my best friends started snorting oxy. I was in grade 10. They asked me to try but i thankfully didnt, usually i would have. but within a month one of my friends was dead and the other was in rehab so i never touched it. fast forward and by the time I was 24 years old, 14 of them were no longer here. I ended up drinking heavily becoming an alcoholic and lived a super lonely existence for a while. I have a tough time making friends now, because all i know is loss (i think - still trying to figure out why) I ended up getting sober a few years ago and I feel like im just figuring out how to do life properly. Just want to end this by saying this man has no idea what oxy has done to normal people like me and I have never even tried it.

That dudes hair and glasses make him look like a character off of "Hey Arnold!"

If this guy was the #1 sales rep, he did NOT report diversion as mandated by law. Talking to someone currently taking opioids about their livelihood from selling opioids isn’t the flex some may think. Purdue lied about how addictive oxy was, how effective it was, and how deadly it was. This guy says thousands of chronic pain patients shouldn’t suffer because one person may get addicted. He’s got those numbers flipped. Hundreds of thousands died so no chronic pain patient ever had to go without. And the strawman argument about getting rid of opioids. Literally no one is legitimately promoting that policy. This guy is biased in every meaningful way; he’s financially benefiting and he’s dependent on opioids. Come on!!! The pretty little lies we tell ourselves so we don’t think about the damage our actions cause…it’s very sad.

LMAO. Vice, you killed it. In the interview, the editing, the filming. Yeah. I’m dead (haha!). But also... it’s clear the #1 salesman is in denial, an observation based on his body language. It would be much more honorable for him to admit that he feels bad for doing all this and that he was one sort of a victim-perhaps two sorts: one as a salesman and one as a patient. If he could admit either of those, he’d be on his way to admitting OxyContin salesmanship is no better than any other sort of addictive drug pedaling. It just goes to show how much of a vice grip the government has on people’s minds by controlling depictions of morality and ethics through legislation.

Who’s is here after Painkiller movie

I love how theu dont bring up tje fact that purdue lied to doctors about its addiction potential. People like this guy lied to doctors about its addiction potential and that is what the major problem was.

"gotta wipe it off, it's dirty." no need to say more.

Being interviewed by Jebediah Townhouse must be a thrill

He's a salesman, his company mislead and lied and he made a lot of money from them, of course he doesn't regret what he had done.

He’s hooked. And doesn’t even see he’s an addict.

You can definitely tell he was a salesman... almost had me convinced for a second 🖕

Ex-pharmaceutical rep here but not Purdue. Knowing how quotas and sales goals work I see two reasons why he did very well. The first is due to his quota being low because "...the territory hadn't been worked in a long time...". The second was the fact that he had one doctor started writing a huge number of scripts, enough to be trafficked to OH. He may not have had a large dollar number of sales but the percentage increase would be huge, we don't know.

In my country its illegal for a pharmasuticle company to promote drugs through or even to doctors.

LMAO I really want that OxyContin pen with the pull-out equianalgesic conversion chart 😂

This salesman had absolutely no medical training and no pharmacology training. Please tell me how that makes him qualified to speak with your doctor about a potential substance for your medical treatment? The system needs to be overhauled.

Did you know: That people who are in pain, looking for drugs to ease said pain, are also "drug seekers?"

I’d be in denial too if I was this guy, how terrible would he feel if he faced the truth

It's easy to say no more opioids until you need them.

"Gotta wipe it off, it's dirty." In SO many ways, sir, in SO many ways.

They should be forced to have a warning on every prescription that says “the addiction from this drug is identical to heroin “. By the time the drug addict finds out it’s the exact same addiction it’s too late. I never would’ve even considered taking it if I knew how powerful it was.

I read this as "Oxytocin Salesman", and it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that this wasn't about marketing and selling oxytocin/Pitocin.

“Barely takes the edge off” Yet he’s still golfing. This man is the very definition of an addict, and someone with zero empathy or regret for what he’s done. Karma will catch up to him

oxycontin took my soul and everything in between. 9 years later i have it back. still has a small part of it though.

When my son was young, he had a tooth ache and the dentist prescribed Vicodin. Like NOPE. He does not need that kind of pain killer for a tooth ache. I tossed that in the trash.

There's something very wrong when the system allows salespeople to visit doctors. Doctors should be making decisions based on what's needed and what's cheapest for the health insurance / patient.

I always wondered what happened with the black kid from Hey Arnold!!

My husband died while using heroin for his pain. He was labeled "a drug seeker" even though he had 2 different chronic pain disease diagnosis. We thought it was because he had a sleeve tattoo. That meant he couldn't get medicine for his pain, so with no insurance and little money he did what he had to do...THAT'S REAL. That's what America's health care system is driving people to.

Chronic pain is worse than being addicted. Prove me wrong.

As a victim of of oxy's I now live with the pain rather than be a slave to pills. Plus I noticed the pills seem to intensify the pain when they wear off which makes you take more and then you build tolerance. The pain increases along with the pill intake and the cycle continues.......till 80mg oxy plus 10mg vicodin and a benzo is breakfast!

"Gotta wipe it off its dirty" it sure is bud.

He is completely addicted. Would like to see him quit - his withdrawals would be horrible.

Yeah he did it for the chronic pain patients. What a hero.

Wow. They weren't pain patients, they were drug seekers. Maybe they started off as pain patients 🤔 then got hooked on something that was lied about from day 1. Maybe their insurance stopped and they were forced into withdrawal, and with the way they kept upping the doses its unbelievable in this day and age

Product sells itself sons. 🤨

Oh look at that! Lucky him! He can still get them...everyone who had chronic pain got taken off and was told to suck it up!

I can't think of a better justice than a 'salesman of the year' ending up on Oxycontin. Good luck with the taper and withdrawal, pal. Welcome to hell.

I can take a person with a haircut like that seriously.😆😆

This dude's hair is killing me. He thinks he's the fresh prince

The first half minute of this video tells you all you need to know the guy says this would knock you out but barely takes the edge off of for me that just means The dude is already addicted

This guy should be in prison with the doctors. He is lying to himself, but that is not an excuse. I know two doctors convicted/lost licenses. This guy should be so proud. Disgusting. Having seen a person PRESCRIBED 140mg a day FINALLY withdraw, after multiple overdoses, this guy needs to be put in a room and ALLOWED to withdraw. Then sent to prison for his pride of sales award.

This guy is extremely delusional for a grown man. There should be little/no sympathy when he realises he can't take these for life. It will be missery

I used to be addicted to oxycontin for number of years. The high is so good on them but the withdrawal is pure nightmare. Now i stick to scotch and weed.

I used to love snorting oxys back in the early 2000's.

you cant forget when gerald from hey arnold interviewed purdue's top salesman

As a chronic pain patient & someone who took narcotics for years to control said pain, these drugs are extremely dangerous. They create such a powerful rebound pain from withdrawal that you can’t tell the difference between your genuine pain & the pain created from the drug. Medical marijuana saved me from this poison & made the transition bearable. If we want to discuss a long-term, realistic, significantly lower risk treatment option for pain patients, medical marijuana is the way to go.

Can we get an update of this guy? Two years is a long time.

He said he tried all these things for his back he shoulda tried cannabis

A legalized drug dealer.

He's trying to rationalize a massacre, because he was taking care of his family.

This guy better cut back on the oxy. Imagine him in 20 years, man is gonna be taking 15 a day if he doesn't slow down

After seeing Dopesick this whole situation was crazy and should give everyone pause in the worldwide portrayal of Bigpharma as being completely trustworthy

Imagine how rich you’d have to be, to be comfortable drinking water from your bathroom sink.

Such a fascinating story. Major kudos to Vice on this one. Also, Michael (salesman) was really interesting and layered...more stories like these please!

Good job for not giggling at that hair! Show this video to the reporter in ten years and watch him squirm.

This man should absolutely be ashamed… it’s pathetic that he doesn’t see the impact these pills have had ..

He can GOLF?!?!?! He has NO IDEA what living with excruciating pain is like!

he is so blind sighted by his own situation to be able to see the biger picture.

Go back and visit this guy in a year and see how he is. He is already in the grip of addiction. I hope and pray that he doesn’t end up like the people that took his poison before him.

My mans was so high he had the lid on upside down and still tried to twist it off. Lol

The interviewers hair is just amazing 🤣 how can you get your hair to grow like that?? Or is it made with hairspray or some kind of product?

It depends on the person and their mental fortitude.I caught a rare spinal cord disease at 15 and was on opiates for almost 15 years. I was on oxy's back when they still offered the 160mg and shit worked for a long ass time. I slowly got better, stepped down the dose, and I am off.You have to go into pain "management" knowing and reminding yourself that it's temporary but I completely understand why some get hooked, it's hella addictive and I could have continued taking them forever but I didn't want to live that junky pill life.I have a 15 year old son and too much left to see and do.It took me almost two years to learn how to crawl stand and walk again so the slight detox from the opiates wasn't bad.I was paralyzed and on a ventilator with no way to communicate other than blinking for months trapped inside my own head.When they took me off the ventilator all I did was beg my parents,doctors, and nurses to let me die.They ended up sedating me and put me back on the ventilator because I wouldn't slow down and breathe but after no talking for months the only thing I begged for was death.Its still hard to have sympathy and empathy for people who suffer with pain because the first thing that pops into my head is if you aren't begging for death it ain't that bad.Once you've flat lined twice, overheard Drs tell your parents that you might not live through the night, begged for death,told you would never walk again and spend almost two years proving everyone wrong it changes your perception on EVERYTHING.I place such a high value on the smallest of actions, because when I couldn't scratch my face that was itching like hell from the opiates, and I couldn't tell anyone to scratch it for me and had to lay there screaming in my head it made me realize and appreciate how awesome it is to scratch your own nose whenever you like. Some people need money,big fancy homes,cars, and toys to be happy.All I need to be happy is my health and the ability to scratch an itch whenever I need to. It's the little things.

I talk to a lot of chronic pain patients as an insurance agent, and I actually agree with him. Some people will abuse the medication with devastating consequences, but for others it's the *only* thing that makes life tolerable due to their chronic pain. Those drugs shouldn't be heavily marketed to people who don't need it, but we also shouldn't be putting up walls to make it difficult for those who *do* need it.

There are people out there who have lobbied in their areas to have all opioids banished except for dying of cancer. I know of one woman who successfully demonstrated in her area. Later, she got in a car accident and found herself stricken with severe chronic pain. She tried and tried, but no doctor would prescribe her an opioid, no matter how terrible was her suffering. It's an understatement to say that her writing shows how much she regrets what she did.

Graduated high school in 2000 and left for the military and anytime I wrote home or called home back to Baltimore I heard nothing but sad stories of people I went to school with hooked on this stuff.

It's Not Hard to Sell The Dope Everybody Still Wants. Duh.

Three friends in three years gone, all did oxy in College for fun.

He says he tried everything, did you edit out where he said he tried CBT and physical therapy? Because those are front line treatments and you didn't show him mentioning them

He said it." this barely takes the edge off". Opiates clog the judgment and allow you to rationalize the things you do. I speak from experience.

People have this stubbornness that the best person is one who is never wrong, and in that pursuit, people will almost never admit their mistakes and any discussion on personal responsibility triggers a defensive response. In my opinion, I think much more highly of someone who can critically find mistakes or areas of improvements in themselves, admitting to mistakes and actively take steps to improve, rather than someone who claims to never make mistakes. The problem is that culturally, this is the case, but it manifests everywhere: the politicians who admits mistakes are the ones that gets tossed, the employee that admits to mistakes are the ones getting fired. So our entire incentive structure is built around never admitting to mistakes and always pushing blame to others, and whoever can do this best wins. To me, that's a toxic priority

This is classic drug rationalizing. And how would he know if his back still hurts after surgery if he's been high for 15 years.

Oh P.S. just in the last year-and-a-half I've cut all of my medication in half on my own simply due to how much the yoga has helped

You need to take that back brace and throw it in the trash. I speak from personal experience. I started having children 20 years ago and that started my back issues. I have degenerative disc disease to herniated discs and I also have spinal stenosis. 4 years ago I had a dual laminectomy which did not help. I found Yoga 3 years ago when the pandemic hit just looking for gentle exercise as to not gain weight since that makes the back problems even worse. Thankfully prior to that the very first spine doctor that I ever went to told me to stop wearing the back brace because it was causing more harm than help. Prior to surgery every single step I took was excruciating. Today I am happy and healthy and have regained almost all quality of life. Yoga saved my life!

Drug dealor admitting that he is the plug between pardue and the doc. N what they do nothing its his job AMAZING

I can usually take Aleve and then I'm good. However, Sometimes I can't sleep due to pain. I feel so sorry for anyone who has legit pain and can get a prescription. God Bless People, Who take pain meds because of pain!

If you feel pain you have compassion for others in pain. He wanted to help people who were suffering.

Kid, from Kid 'n Play, interviews former OxyCotin salesman of the year.

Because of all of this, legitimate people in pain have a horrible time getting pain medication.

The point about him being paid per each perscription reminds me of how policemen will unlawfully arrest people and army recruiters will recruit unqualified people if they have quotas to fill.

Wait, he knew that the drug was highly addictive and he was dissapointed that "drug seekers" (not junkies or drug dealers) where hanging out at a doctors office?? How come he is not considered a drug dealer himself that helped create the opioid pandemic??? How come vice news let him appear as a good guy and not responsible for the death of thousands, and therefore a criminal???

He's a drug dealer/murderer - plain and simple. He made a lot of money and didnt care about the devastation he caused. He knew exactly what he was doing.

He has no value of people who he got addicted but he sure has a nice house. What a nice man. You know God doesn't see it that way.

I feel so bad for people who are addicted to pain meds but I can see the benefit of oxy. I have eds type 3 which causes constant dislocation of the joints and for years they tried every pain med they could find in enormous high doses. After some time my GP discovered oxycodone and put me on it. A few hours after taking my first pill I could finally be myself and not be in agony. Its been 5 years and I’ve been able to stop 3 other pain meds that I was on and am only taking a quarter of the lyrica I was taking all because of a medium dose of oxycodone.

Another great video 🎉

3:30 love how the sales guy is educating a doctor on pain management and medicine LMFAO dude read a company slideshow and he’s the expert

When they changed from OP to OC, and added the coating, let's just say it made things difficult.