DOPESICK: Fentanyl's Deadly Grip

Directed by Shawney Cohen

A smashingly effective piece of investigative reporting, Dopesick: Fentanyl's Deadly Grip delivers in its deeply human portrayal of a problem that won't go away, and can no longer be dismissed.

This VICE feature film follows the lives of people in Alberta, Canada, affected by the powerful opioid drug fentanyl. The underlying source of the fentanyl crisis in the country goes back to 2012, when the notorious prescription painkiller OxyContin was pulled from pharmacy shelves in lieu of a "safer" alternative called OxyNeo. In response to the change, counterfeit fentanyl disguised as fake OxyContin pills started popping up, proliferated, and ended up sparking a full-on crisis in the country-with Canada's west becoming a major epicenter.