“American Pain,” premiering on CNN Tonight, documents twin brothers who became Florida’s opioid kingpins

The infamous Sacklers of OxyContin are indelibly linked to America’s opioid crisis. But the truth is, they were far from the only contributors to a drug epidemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in recent years.

Take Chris and Jeff George for example. The Steroid Jack twins opened their first pain reliever store in Florida in 2007, and before long, as they put it, “We were the Disneyland of pain clinics.” Their exploits are chronicled in the CNN Films documentary. American paindirected by Darren Foster, premieres tonight on CNN.

“The George brothers didn’t start the opioid crisis,” notes retired FBI agent Kurt McKenzie in the film. “But they certainly added fuel to the fire.”

Foster, an Emmy-winning filmmaker, first met the Georges more than a decade ago.

“In 2009 I went to Florida to cover the pill mill. One pain clinic in particular had a reputation as the largest and most generous supplier of oxycodone. And that was it [the George Brothers’] American Pain,” Foster tells Deadline. “So I knew I had to go there and film it. Little did I know that I could only get one shot out of the clinic before I was surrounded by Chris George and some other very big employees… They chased me down I-95 for quite a while.”

There was an air of legitimacy about George’s pain clinics—the brothers hired licensed doctors through Craigslist who were willing to issue endless numbers of pain prescriptions after a cursory examination of patients. In cases where patients could not legally claim an injury or condition that warranted pain medication, they offered referrals to an MRI imaging service operating out of a semi-parked out back of a strip club.

As entrepreneurs, the brothers came at the right time. They ended up trading more than $500 million worth of painkillers.

“What happened is this Purdue Pharma [the Sacklers’ company] lost their patent on Oxycontin and that allowed all these generic drug companies to make the same drug at a much lower price. That was the opportunity the George brothers jumped at,” notes Foster. “People who wanted to abuse these drugs were already there because of OxyContin. You can actually get it for a much cheaper price because it was now generic. You didn’t need insurance, you could pay it in cash… [At the Georges’ clinics] no insurance was taken out, no credit cards were taken, it was all cash only.”

Huge crowds flocked to George’s dispensary, not only local residents, but also people from out of state seeking opioids. You can be in and out in no time (often with a solid supply of pills to sell at home at a higher price). Some patients immediately stocked up on medication and browsed the clinic’s parking lot.

“That’s the craziest part of the story, that it all happened in front of everyone,” says Foster. “A lot of it was suspect from the start. And the only question is, how could it last so long? And I think the answer to that question, in a way, is that they were prescription drugs. It was not cocaine or heroin, which was clearly an illegal drug. Everyone has had a plausible deniability for a long time. The doctors had their medical degrees and lab coats to hide behind. The patients had a prescription from the doctor that said they could legally keep those drugs, and the George brothers had the doctors.”

There was another important participant in this scenario: the drug companies that made the painkillers.

“There was an entire pharmaceutical industry waiting, ready to deliver [the Georges] and stock their shelves,” notes Foster. “The history of American pain illustrates how this drug crisis has been made unique in America. We cannot hire a foreign cartel to supply the drugs. These drugs were supplied in large quantities by American drug companies… It was really just a callous attitude. Instead of raising a red flag [about suspicious clinics]You say how many more pills can we give?”

American pain will be available on demand to pay TV subscribers Monday through CNN.com, CNN apps and cable operator platforms. The film uses wiretapping devices and undercover video to show how police officers eventually arrested the brothers, along with some of their hired medical workers. Chris George was released from prison after serving 11 years; his brother Jeff remains in prison. Foster questions whether there has been sufficient accountability for the opioid epidemic, given its scope and the number of people who have died on a broader level.

“I have met many families who have lost people in this crisis. The extent of the devastation is unprecedented in the history of drugs in this country,” he says. “It’s just so devastating. Entire cities, entire cities have been destroyed by this crisis. And I think the frustration of many victims’ families is that justice has never been done. Locking up the George brothers for 10, 20 years – sure, it serves justice on some level – but at the end of the day, as big as they were, they’re still small compared to the pharmaceutical industry, which made billions from drugs. ”

Foster adds, “The George brothers paid the price for what they did. But the drug companies have yet to be held criminally accountable for everything that happened in Florida during that time.”