Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Opioids
November 6, 2016 11:29 AM - Season 3, Episode 27 - Subscribe

Week of 10/23:
  • The final debate of the election, and some highlights of awful Trump statements made during it, particularly his promise to keep us "in suspense" as to whether he'd accept a loss or not. Clinton and Trump were also both present at the Al Smith dinner in New York, where Trump spoke, and bombed. Henry Kissinger's reaction to Trump's speech: "Dis is not good." At the end, in order to allow Trump to save face should he lose the election, Oliver makes a bet with Trump on-air: he will bet Trump that he wins the elction, with the stakes being Oliver's Emmy award statuette.
  • And Now: You'll Never Guess What Christ Matthews' Favorite Movie Is
  • Main story: The rise of addictive opioid prescription pain killers (Oxycontin, Vicodin, Percocet), resulting in over 30,000 overdose deaths a year, and actively promoted, predictably, by the pharmaceutical industry. YouTube (19m)
  • People Who Somehow Got Elected: US Representative from Wisconsin's 6th District Glenn Grothman.
Bonus! If you were as enchanted by that guy with the shocked expression in the Al Smith dinner segment as I was, here he is in animated GIF form!

2016 Election: "I Honestly Don't Even Know if I Can Make It Another Two-And-A-Half Weeks I've Been Drinking a Lot and Lashing Out and Frankly My Family Is Worried 2016"

F. 37 Chicago Cubs: "Ursus Major"

Another bonus! Here's the complete version of that narcotics educational film they showed at the beginning of the Opioids piece, the one that talked about the "pot needle."
posted by JHarris (2 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
It kind of bugged me when he mocked the idea that people seeking drugs for actual pain relief could be hard to distinguish from people who don't need pain relief but are addicted. That's an issue that genuinely frightens me and I didn't like to see someone who usually says the right things seeming to miss one. I guess it has to happen sometimes.
posted by bleep at 12:12 AM on November 7, 2016


Yeah, I had that reaction too. I have several "spoonie" friends on Twitter who've had real problems getting needed medication. And I was sort of disappointed that he didn't have anything about how Oxy was marketed to doctors.
posted by epersonae at 9:24 AM on November 7, 2016


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