In her series Killers & Pain, Mary Beth Pfeiffer explored and exposed a painkiller abuse epidemic whose devastation cannot be understated: 22,000 American lives lost in 2012 in overdoses from prescribed drugs like oxycodone. While the story has been told before, Pfeiffer broke new ground. She laid blame on doctors and on New York’s prime agency that regulated them; called officials to account for a law that sent users flocking to heroin; and, importantly, humanized an epidemic that has ravaged communities served by the Poughkeepsie Journal. If you read no other piece, read her June 29 profile of “The Dutchess 63,” a heart-breaking portrait of real-world pain.
