Art Van Zee was among the first physicians in the U.S. to warn people about the dangers of OxyContin and take a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical company head on for its marketing blunders. He describes his witness of the problem rapidly develop into a nationwide opioid epidemic by the late 1990s from his work at a community clinic in St. Charles, Va., a historic coal mining town in Appalachia. Van Zee’s subsequent research into and scholarship on the matter has positioned him as a key figurehead in the effort to address addiction.
Recorded March 17th, 2013.
Full footage of Art Van Zee’s interview.