You’re whitewashing it a bit.
1) RB from the very beginning was telling docs to tell patients to stay on Suboxone forever, saying it’s just like treating diabetes. You don’t need a medical degree to know taking any opiate (including Suboxone) for years is bad for your health. You just need common sense. Plenty of research that clearly illustrates the negative effects of long term Suboxone including low T and, ironically, increase risk of diabetes. From the very beginning there was never an exit strategy off Suboxone, and there still isn’t.
2) Suboxone didn’t get traction until the Purdue model was adopted: trade cash for drugs. This was done by recruiting docs to “build their practices” by getting X waivered so they could charge desperate patients cash to access Suboxone. And they did charge them cash, even if the patient had insurance. Then RB and docs promoted high doses (32mg / day was common) knowing full well patients were selling most of what was prescribed to 1) generate cash to pay the doctor for more Suboxone, and, 2) often buy heroin or other drugs. This model was identical to the Purdue pill mill model most everyone (RB, docs, patients) knew it.
Don’t worry, Sam Quinones is working on Dreamland, part 2, and he’ll lay out the role RB played in worsening the epidemic in easy to understand language. If he doesn’t, someone else will.