Sam Quinones is the author of the remarkable book “Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic,” a must-read for anyone interesting in knowing how we got into the current opioid crisis and what needs to be done to overcome it.

Mr. Quinones recently testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. His opening remarks (only about 13:00 minutes long) are, like the rest of his work, well worth one’s time.

Mr. Quinones has done groundbreaking work documenting the roles played by Big Pharma, medical doctors and their training as well as an opportunistic cadre of Mexican heroin dealers in getting us into the position we’re in today.

But, he goes beyond the history, itself a fascinating study, to identify underlying causes that have taken us as a country, as communities and as individuals down the trail of addiction.

We believe the trends he describes, the mistakes that were made on the path toward widespread addiction can help to inform decisions about treatment options and some of the “quick-fix” solutions currently being sold to us today.

For more information on Mr. Quinone’s work, see Dreamland … A Reporter’s Blog.