A Gripping Legal Thriller on the Opioid Crisis | Author Interview | Episode 119

You're an attorney, you've got many stories through just by cases and trials and things of that nature. Why did you want to dive into this story? Because it's something that is in everyone's life. Those that are suffering through it, I hope they see that they're not alone when they read this. This situation is very true. What my characters go through, others have gone through exactly time and time again. So you're not alone. It's not your fault. You know, you didn't make a mistake. You will see how close it really is in your world. Wow. Laura Essay, welcome to the Bookaholic Podcast. Hello. Thank you for having me. Yes. Glad to have you here today. And you know, you're one of the many attorneys that I have interviewed that have turned to writing books. And I don't know if you guys are being influenced by people like John Grisham or what, but I still am trying to figure out what is it about attorneys and then books? Maybe it's because you guys, through your cases and trials and things of that nature, have so many stories that build up inside of you over time. Do you think that's it? That has to be part of it. You see so many situations. They think, oh, that could be a fun twist. Yeah. You also spend a great deal of time writing. You write every day. That's right. You're either drafting documents, writing memorandums, writing briefs. I mean, you could have, you know, 30, 40 plus page brief that has to be very precise, very accurate. And so that probably, you know, lends to the writing process. Yes, most definitely. Well, you have written a book based on facts, based on, I won't say a true story, but based on facts called Side Effects Are Minimal. And we're going to get into that because that's a kind of play on words. It has to do with the opioid crisis, correct? Very much so. As an attorney, you've had to deal with that. Can you give us a further background of that? I've seen it a great deal. I mean, all the way back to the 80s, it was an issue. People did not even realize, not the issue it is today, but it was there and it affects everyone. And you know what? It's based on facts. It is a true story, but it's many true stories. It's not just one. And as I did research, you know, I saw some news commentary and read some articles and then thought, how expansive is this? How widespread? So you start looking into it and it's everywhere. And the stories are so similar. So it is based on so many true stories because this is what's happening in our society. Well, and we know you're not a person, a medical doctor. We've already firmly established that you're an attorney. But can you describe to us just in layman's terms where the opioid crisis began? It just simply began as in medicines for painkillers, correct? And then one thing leads to another. Can you give us a better background of that? There was a period of time. Like I said, this has gone on for decades, that physicians were then introduced to the idea that opioids could be used for everyday pain, chronic pain. Opioids were reserved for cancer patients, postoperative situations in the hospital. But there was a situation where they sent a patient home with some opioids and then there was a letter. There's this famous letter and it's referenced in my book that opioids could be used for chronic pain. They are not as addictive as we thought. So it went, and there's a pendulum, and again, that's referenced in my story about opiophilia and opioid phobia, and the phobia swings back and forth. It was crazy for a while that, I mean, you could, you know, it was a band-aid. You could get painkillers for all sorts of things. And even today there is still, it's much, much different, but I've encountered people. And if you talk to somebody, anybody out there, it's so close to all of us that people will leave a hospital, leave a situation, and they'll have, you know, 40 opioids. They'll have a handful still that does happen. And then the reason it's gotten so awful is that it is addictive and there's certain populations that they'll be addicted to the opioid, but they can't get any more scripts for it. It's super pricey, but heroin, same thing. So they turn to the street and they can get it for nothing. And there's a direct correlation between opioids and heroin. And 85% of the heroin addicts we see who are just being sucked down the pipe started with a legal physician prescription, 85% started that way. They didn't, they were you and me. They weren't. Nobody wakes up and wants to be a drug addict. No, of course not. Just something happens and you get sucked into that situation. Wow. And that's tragic. And just give us about what are the names of opioids that we are, you know, people take for granted, but it's an opioid. I can't remember any of the names. Oxycontin. Everyone knows about it. Oxycontin. That's right. Oxycontin. That's the most familiar. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. And I mean, you know, in the past 10 years, I would say I've had some procedures done and then they send you home with, I would say I was sent home with Oxycontin, but I was sent home with something. Right. My husband and I, he had a shoulder surgery and we were very, you know, saying, okay, are you in pain? The other spouse would hold the medication for the other spouse, whoever was in pain. Right. And we had made up our minds, okay, I'm going to take maybe three of these pills and then I'm going to have to fight it out for the rest of the time and flush the rest down the toilet. Exactly. I mean, just be careful with it. Yes. And that's all it takes for someone with different chemistry, different biology than you to be addicted. Exactly. That's all it would entail. Well, Side Effects are Minimal is coming out this July. So everybody keep your eyes and ears open for that and go ahead and pre-order it if it's available. And we're going to dive into Claire Hewitt, who is an ambitious attorney and she finds herself in the center of a harrowing legal battle when she is tasked with representing the Sotoris, one of Philadelphia's most influential families in a lawsuit surrounding the tragic death of their daughter. So tell us a little bit about this story without giving away any spoilers. Claire was assigned this case with a new associate as her side chair. And it's a situation that she experienced as a child. Her sister was a gymnast who had a horrific accident, had surgery, got addicted to opioids. Oh, wow. And that story then has a lot of other aspects to that. And back then it was, was she, was it the opioids? What was the real problem? And now this case is thrown into Claire's lap. It brings back all these memories. It's her chance to prove, hey, something's going on here. We're losing people and this needs to change. And it gets into the scientists who are developing this. It gets into the pharmaceutical industry who's promoting this. And it goes through this lawsuit. But those are the things we're familiar with to some degree. I don't think we know how extensive it truly is. And where other novels, fiction stories that are based on this event have occurred, a lot of them, most, revolve around the addict, what the addict went through, what the test situation happened. The addict has passed away when my story begins. It's not about that. It's about the whole community and what happens to the people that are left behind. What happens to the family? What happens to the friends? What happens to the pharmaceutical company? The doctors, how the doctors play off each other. And then the ending of my story is very true. It happens all the time. And that I can't tell you because that's what we don't talk about. Right. That was the hard part of my research because I wanted to know how often does this happen? What is the extent of this situation? I found very little. They don't talk about it. Right. They don't know what is happening now. I was talking with someone this morning and we were discussing this upcoming interview and then it was kind of like, we haven't heard anything about the opioid crisis in quite a while. We know it's still there. So maybe that's what you are alluding to because there for a while it was a hot topic, you know, as is in when you're talking about the media. And now I hear very little about it. But there's been several movies, say streaming on Netflix, that I can't remember the title of it, but you know. Dope Sick is one of them. Which one? Dope Sick. Yes. Dope Sick is one of them. And one is focusing more on the pharmaceutical company. The family. Yeah. Because Purdue and the Ackler family was a big, huge situation. We heard all about it then. Yes. And then we heard a lot about the addicts and how many we were losing. We didn't get accurate numbers, I don't believe, on really nationwide how widespread it is. But there is still, outside of the addict, angry families. There are situations there where that is a twist that you just don't hear about it. Right. I don't want to go into more of that because that is one of the, when you get to the end of the story, you'll be surprised. Wow. I would be very surprised if you didn't sit back and say, OMG. Wow. And that happens. It happens all the time. I don't know if it happens every day. It's not just a couple of times a year. Right. People are really in trouble with this. Yes. It's scary. Well, I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Side Effects of Minimal. So what made you, why did you write such a story? Again, you're an attorney. You've got many stories through just by cases and trials and things of that nature. Why did you want to dive into this story? Because it's something that is in everyone's life. I think I wrote for somebody, those that are suffering through it, I hope they see that they're not alone when they read this. This situation is very true. What my characters go through, others have gone through exactly time and time again. So you're not alone. It's not your fault. You know, you didn't make a mistake. And for those people who don't think, you know, it's really doesn't affect me. It's not that close to me. Ask around. Look at your friend's son, your cousin's brother. I mean, things like that, your cousin's brother, but things like that. It's closer than you really realize because again, there's a chapter in there that's six degrees of separation. It's closer than that. You would even talk about it. You will see how close it really is in your world. And again, I keep bringing up the ending because those are situations we're familiar with and we talk about and it could change your world in a heartbeat. It really could. And we don't realize it until, oh, geez, it happened. Yes. Exactly. And I think that's that seeing how when I was doing my research, it was curiosity. You see some stories, you're like, oh, is that I mean, it can't be real. Okay. Research it is. And then it talks about something else. And then it references another one and then another one. And so you kind of get sucked down the rabbit hole with that. But what's in the rabbit hole blew my mind away. Wow. Let's talk about your research, you know, because you're sitting here with your computer or pen and pad, depending on what your writer process looks like. And you say to yourself, I'm going to write a book that is going to be centered around the opioid crisis. There's has to be tons and tomes of that you have to do to research the opioid crisis. What did your research look like? And, you know, when you get to a certain point, not just how that road looks like, when do you decide I have enough, you know, from this exhaustive research? When do you decide I have enough and that it is solid evidence for my story? It's such a liquid process that I didn't start out, I'm going to write a book on this. I'm always writing something. I'm just interested in current things. I'm always working on something. And so that, hmm, did this really happen? It did. It was a true story. Did this. And then it led to this. And then it led to that. And then it was, OK, so they're turning from opioids and what are the most popular opioids and how are they getting them and what are the prescriptions and how is that going on? And then I came across the letter that was the start of the opioid epidemic. I've got to see that letter. Yeah. That was the and it was a letter of a physician wrote to the New England Journal of Medicine. And I changed the name there completely. But it's I mean, that's research. But then it led to something else. And then it grew and it kind of it wrote itself because I had no idea. And as you fictionalize these characters, you can give them a little more leeway to show what they'll really do. And I added some legalities in it for the fun, just to make it more fun. Dana, she's the attorney who's Claire's nemesis. Oh, he did some things that are not factual. They're unrelated to opioids. Everything with opioids is 100 percent true. She did some naughty things just because that's the kind of person she is. It made the story more fun. And those are things that I had no idea. My great grandfather was a writing professor and he always said, let the story write itself. Just it will do. And it did. I had all the research and it just it kept going and kept going. And it wrote itself. And I keep referring to this ending when I came across that this is how the story was ending for a lot of people that I thought, all right, I'm not going to go farther with that because my research was cut off. I can't tell you, like I said, how many times a day, a week, a month this occurs. I just can tell you it's often enough that it's out there. And I thought, you know what? Just show the reader this is how the story's ending. And they it will be like, oh, my goodness, this is this is what happens. And I thought it would it's a dramatic ending to show how bad this situation is and what turn it's taken. Wow. Well, you write, you know, and you said previously that a lot of stories don't focus on the folks that's left behind in this story. The person, the addict is already deceased. So Claire, being a family member, the attorney, our protagonist in this book, she's left behind, of course, but from her sister's situation and she feels a heavy burden of guilt related to her sister's death. Can you go into a little bit of that and tie it into people that's left behind after the addict? Is it the fact that they don't see the addiction that leaves them with the feeling of guilt? Do they not see it or do they not want to see it? Do they disguise it? Do they make it something else? And it's not hidden that her sister post-operative painkillers was her thing. Well, so where do you draw the line? And when that situation occurred was during an opiophilia stage of medicine that it was fine. She could take some, just a little bit more, just a little bit more. She started sneaking them. And that's the thing with painkillers. If you take one and it takes care of it. And I don't know the number. It varies based on every individual. But two. OK, three. All right. Pretty soon that one pill is not going to do it. So now I have to take two. The chemistry, I do know the chemistry and biology in your body alters on opioids. Guaranteed that. I mean, that is a fact. And I can't go into the details of how that works. I'm not in health care or science at all. But because of that, you need more. So what used to take one pill, I'd be OK. Well, now I have to take two. Well, now I have to take three. Now, again, you know, like you said, you're not in health care or science. But I wonder if you saw evidence of this in some of your research. So a person is usually legally prescribed an opioid. They are in pain. They take the pills per prescription. Then it becomes more and more of an addiction. Now, in some of the cases, have you found that the person is still? Let's say it's like, I don't know, a year later. Is the person still in pain or are they just addicted? That is that's the big question. They think they have pain. They are in pain. If you ask them, they are in pain. OK, what is pain now? What is their pain? Your brain changes. And I do touch on that in the manuscript as well. Your brain changes on opioids. So what you are perceiving, having never taken an opioid as pain is different once you've taken six months of opioids. Once you've after three months, your chances of being addicted skyrocket. But it does. It changes the chemistry in your brain or the biology in your brain. I'm not sure exactly of what the correct terminology is. But I have that from I have medical documents showing that that's been proven. It does change you. And so you're not the same. And as far as the people left behind, you're going to feel guilty that as a mother, I bought the pills. I took her to the doctor. I took her to the doctor or as a spouse. I didn't monitor. I saw that empty bottle and I didn't ask. Right. Right. And you will question what you could have done. Yes. Yes. Not anything. Right. Right, right, right. Wow. Well, the Satori's in your book, they are the prominent Philadelphia family. And so how does their status influence the dynamics of the lawsuit then in Claire's involvement? I use their status and an influential family, a strong family of that nature to show anybody. These aren't poor people that couldn't afford a drug or couldn't, you know, that took some back alley route to their medication. No, these are people that control a lot. Right. And he controls a lot of the city. And he's a real estate tycoon. And he owns a lot. And he's a strong man. And he can't control this. Right. It shows that as a society and as individuals, it's bigger than we are. Yes. He could not control it. He couldn't bring his daughter back. Oh, yeah. And you're already giving me goosebumps about this book because I'm like, oh, wow, this has got to be a really great read. Well, the pursuit of justice often comes with sacrifices. Can you discuss the moral dilemmas that Claire faces as she navigates the legal and ethical complexities of the case? Pointing of when someone is deceased, especially in this situation, pointing fingers is difficult. And it's difficult to point it to the doctor because he tried. That's the thing. So often it's the doctors that that are are blamed. And many, many are good, great people. Yes. So does she point the finger there? Is she just reliving a childhood guilt trip and going to make someone pay just revenge, revenge, revenge? But which isn't right either, because it's pointing a finger without finding an answer. And she's also taking on the pharmaceutical industry that is ginormous and bottomless. And they've got it all. And here she is a single attorney. It's reference to a class action suit. So it's not just this isolated. But I don't get into all of that because that was too much of a it takes away from some of the things I wanted to bring out in the story. Right. She's faced with how to deal with these. She sees her mother in Margo, which is Emma's mother. Emma's the girl who died. She sees her mother in her face and her father and relives a lot of that. And you have to be reliving something. You have to ask yourself, am I doing the right thing or am I just in my own little pity party? Right. Going through situations where she's having to juggle her emotions with her legal responsibilities. Right, right, right. Well, you know, Claire, our protagonist, she's definitely by taking on this case, she's triggered. And I would think with the volume of this opioid crisis, if you pick up this book, you may also be triggered depending on your relationship with the opioid crisis. You could be triggered as well. Yes, very much so. And I'm also hoping that everyone looks at the drug addicts with a little less judgment because we don't get started. Yes. We going downtown to a restaurant, a theater, and you can see someone in the corner in the alley and have a thought. Hopefully it's a kinder thought because you don't know. That could have been the CEO of a company. Yes. Years ago. Right. Now that's what happened. You just don't know. So I'm hoping it will enlighten a lot of people on the situations bigger than we are and to just have a more open approach to it. Yes, most definitely. Well, you've taken on a huge, huge subject in your first book, right? Yes. Yes, it is your debut novel. So what are you looking at next? Are you going to write another book or? I am. I've actually started to. So I've got to narrow it down and pick something. But and I don't want to be it's not on opioids. I'm not the opioid writer. I didn't help here. And that's not my area of focus. Right. Fiction writer, maybe a memoir writer. I am very drawn to current events. I'm going on around us because I think there's so much good and bad that's happening around us that we don't really talk about. And I think in sharing that and researching, you know, getting the true stories out there, I think that is just it's a neat process. And it's fun to be a part of that. Wow. Well, that sounds intriguing. And definitely your book sounds intriguing. Folks, check out Side Effects are minimal wherever books are sold. And also we'll have Laura's contact information and the podcast show notes, as well as the video description box on my YouTube channel. Laura, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much. This was wonderful. Oh, thank you. Remember, Side Effects are minimal is coming out this July. Keep your eyes peeled for it.