Dreamland Characters

Paul and Ellen Schoonover are the parents of Myles and Matt. They are a middle-class family from Columbus, Ohio. When their son Matt dies of a heroin overdose in 2012, Paul and Ellen turn to addiction advocacy work in response to their tragedy.

Dr. Herschel Jick’s assistant.

A prison guard in Lucasville, Ohio who was prescribed painkillers by Dr. David Procter and became addicted.

Adam Johnson died of an overdose in Huntington, West Virginia in 2007. He was discovered by his father, Teddy.

Enrique’s uncles are Xalisco traffickers who operated out of Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. Enrique aspired to be as successful as his uncles growing up, though he didn’t know how they made their money until he visited them in the US.

An English chemist who studies the morphine molecule at the University of Bristol.

A cop with the Denver Police Department. Chavez coined the term “Xalisco Boys” and was involved in Operation Tar Pit.

A German pharmacist’s apprentice who isolated opium’s “sleep-inducing” element in the 1800s. He called it “morphine” for the Greek god of sleep, Morpheus.

A doctor from Edinburgh who invented the hypodermic needle in 1853.

A doctor from London. In an attempt to find a nonaddictive form of morphine, Wright synthesized diacetylmorphine in 1874.

Dresser was a Bayer Laboratory chemist who, in 1898, reproduced Dr. Adler Wright’s “diacetylmorphine” and called it heroin for the German word heroisch, or “heroic.”

The son of a wealthy sugarcane farmer, Tejeda was one of the first men from Xalisco to sell heroin out of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. He was shot to death in Xalisco in 1996 over a money dispute.

Mexican drug cartel from the state of Sinaloa. The cartel is known for their violence

An addiction specialist at the Rockefeller Institute in New York City. He opened the first methadone clinic in New York City in 1970. He also emphasized the importance of therapy and human relationships in recovery.

A cop with the Portland Police Drugs and Vice Division. Part of his job involved watching the Xalisco Boys deliver drugs with Portland Police’s aerial force.

A Xalisco trafficker operating out of Portland. Before expanding his business, he sold out of the San Fernando Valley, where he was admired by Enrique.

A nurse and researcher from England. Saunders opened a hospice in the 1970s and treated her cancer patients with opiates. Her belief that “death should be dignified” fueled crusaders of the pain revolution in America like Dr. Russell Portenoy and Dr. Kathleen Foley, among others.

Stjernsward became the president of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the 1980 and helped devise the WHO Ladder of pain treatment along with Vittorio Ventafridda.

Ventafridda was a doctor who worked with the terminally ill. He met Jan Stjernsward through WHO and helped devise the WHO Ladder of pain treatment.

A former professional wrestler turned pain specialist. Bonica founded the Center for Pain Relief, America’s first pain clinic, at the University of Washington School of Medicine in 1960. Bonica advocated for a “multidisciplinary approach” to pain treatment.

Dr. John Bonica’s successor at the Center for Pain Relief. Loeser expanded on Bonica’s multidisciplinary approaches to pain treatment.

The Man is the Xalisco trafficker responsible for bringing black tar heroin east of the Mississippi River for the first time when he started a Xalisco cell in Columbus, Ohio.

Nurses from Tulsa who created the Wong-Baker FACES scale, a chart of faces on a scale of smiling to grimacing that helps gauge pain levels in children.

A Xalisco trafficker operating out of Boise, Idaho.

A narcotics investigator in Boise, Idaho, who investigated the Xalisco Boys.

Doctors who coined the term “pseudoaddiction” in a 1989 publication of Pain. Haddox went on to work for Purdue Pharma.

A doctor at the Multnomah County Health Department. In 1999, Oxman researched and reported on the county’s heroin-related death and overdose statistics.

A Multnomah County, Oregon commissioner.

The director of Central City Concern (CCC), a nonprofit based in Portland that provides detox facilities for addicts.

An FBI agent who investigated the Xalisco Boys in Portland. Stone was involved in Operation Tar Pit.

FDA examiner who supervised the examination of Purdue’s application for OxyContin. Wright would later work for Purdue.

Hughes runs the Counseling Center in Portsmouth, Ohio. Purdue Pharma threatened to sue the Counselor Center after a local newspaper published a story about addicts at the Center addicted to OxyContin.

A DEA agent working out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Kuykendall was involved in Operation Tar Pit.

An addict from Aberdeen, Ohio. Wilder made an illegitimate business out of collecting OxyContin prescriptions from doctors around Ohio and Kentucky and selling them for profit.

One of the main drug dealers in Chimayo, New Mexico.

An addict and customer of the Xalisco Boys in Santa Fe who eventually started working for them. Berardinelli was arrested in Operation Tar Pit and turned to advocacy and counseling after his release.

A pain specialist who prescribed many opiates.

A defense attorney from Scioto County, Ohio. Hale filed the first OxyContin wrongful-death suit against Purdue in 2001. Intimidated by Purdue, he later dropped the case.

A pharmacist and employee at Washington State’s Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). Mai and her boss, Gary Franklin. noticed an increase in worker’s comp employees dying from overdoses and issued a set of prescription guidelines for opiates for state doctors in 2008.

Jaymie Mai’s boss at Washington State’s Department of Labor and Industries (L&I). Franklin and Mai issued a set of prescription guidelines for opiates for state doctors in 2008.

An epidemiologist with the Washington State Department of Health. Sabel’s research confirmed that Washington State saw an increase in opiate overdoses between 1994-2005.

A former addict from Portsmouth. Henson used to sell prescription opiates. By the end of Dreamland, she has gotten sober and now manages the Clubhouse, a place for Portsmouth residents to gather in a sober environment.

Brownlee became U.S. attorney for the western district of Virginia. He filed a case of criminal misbranding against Purdue Pharma in 2006.

An addict from Kentucky. He made a business out of selling opiates he procured from Florida, where there were fewer regulations on prescriptions.

An epidemiologist from Ohio’s Department of Health. His research revealed the extent of the state’s overdose deaths.

Supervisor at the Department of Health’s Violence and Injury Prevention unit in Ohio.

A pain specialist inspired by Dr. John Loeser. In 2008, Cahana resurrected John Bonica’s Center for Pain Relief at the University of Washington.

A judge in Tennessee who runs a drug court attached to a treatment center. Norman believes rehab is more beneficial to addicts than prison.

A Denver cop who drove up Xalisco traffickers’ cost of doing business by arresting more low-lever dealers.

A Portsmouth woman whose son died of an overdose. She later turned to advocacy and founded SOLACE, a support group.

A recovering addict from Marion, Ohio. Belcher was frustrated by Marion’s inaction in response to the opiate epidemic and placed signs with the message “HEROIN IS MARION’S ECONOMY” around town. The signs were removed but started an important local conversation.

Wayne Campbell’s son Tyler was a football player for the University of Akron. Tyler was prescribed painkillers for a sports injury, became addicted, and died of an overdose. After his son’s death, Campbell formed a nonprofit called Tyler’s Life.

A pharmacology professor at Temple University. Adler is doubtful humanity will find a “Holy Grail” drug and believes pain is part of life.

A judge in Columbus, Ohio, and former prosecutor.

Hall was the director a drug rehab clinic in Fairfield County, near Columbus, Ohio. By the end of Dreamland, he directs Ohio’s substance abuse program.

The director of the Multidisciplinary Pain Center in Seattle, who took over from Alex Cahana as director in 2013. Tauben used to be a proponent of opiates, but later changed his mind as he saw their ineffectiveness.