The Offspring's latest single and video, “The Opioid Diaries,” puts the spotlight on the growing opioid crisis, placing the blame squarely on the pharmaceutical industry. The video includes some eye-opening statistics like more than 93,000 people died of a drug overdose in 2020, equating to one person every six minutes. 2020 also had the highest count of overdose deaths ever recorded.
Dexter Holland told Loudwire, “I wrote this Offspring song about addiction. While drug addiction is certainly not a new issue, the opioid epidemic in America is different. It’s different because it was created by, and driven by, Big Pharma – and I wrote this song to say that the pharmaceutical industry should be held accountable for its consequences.”
Holland added “The Opioid Diaries” was written from a personal perspective “to show the very personal toll that opiate addiction has taken on our friends and families.” He explained, “There are countless stories of regular folks with short term pain issues – a blue collar factory worker, or a high school athlete, for example – who were given these drugs and became hopelessly addicted in a short period of time. When the prescription ran out, they had no choice but to start taking illegal street drugs like heroin and fentanyl. And the results, of course, have been deadly.”
“The Opioid Diaries” is included on The Offspring's latest album, Let the Bad Times Roll.
