Ryan Homanics in his first literary work attempts to explore the heroin epidemic in this country in a way not previously attempted. He draws upon personal experiences over the course of nearly a decade being addicted to drugs and merges that understanding with a look at the socio-economic environment that the heroin epidemic thrives in. He lays out in Dopesick how the current conditions of the society around us are actually driving the epidemic to higher and higher levels of human tragedy. The human desire to acquire profit at all costs are causing institutions large and small to put dollar bills over human lives. Until the fundamental driving forces behind the heroin epidemic are identified, addressed, critiqued, and changed the problem will only get worse. Significantly worse.