Dreamland: Part 1: The Man in the Heartland Summary & Analysis

Columbus, Ohio is a remarkably average, middle-of-the-road American city, and thus it is “one that marketers especially prize” for gauging consumer interest. Just as legitimate marketers like Wendy’s use Columbus “as a barometer of America,” so too does the Man for his illegitimate black tar heroin business in 1998. The Man’s arrival in Columbus marks what is likely the first time black tar heroin had ventured east of the Mississippi River. The relative nearness of Mexico makes the Xalisco Boys’ product better and cheaper. Seeing what a prime market Columbus is, the Man sends for more Xalisco Boys, whom he advises to sell to white customers, as “that’s where the money is.” The Man’s heroin taps into a market that craves it, and with the arrival of black tar comes, too, a drastic increase in overdoses. Columbus is home to the only methadone clinic for miles, so opiate addicts come from far away to purchase whatever dealers offer outside. When the Man arrives in Columbus with his black tar, these travelers become his first customers.

An addict named Mikey provides the Man with connections in Wheeling. There, the Man discovers OxyContin for the first time when an addict offers to trade him some for heroin. The Man arrived in the American heartland at the very beginning of Purdue Pharma’s aggressive OxyContin campaign. Nearby, pain clinics inspired by David Procter’s pill mill business model have increasingly emerged. Because black tar is cheaper than OxyContin, it sells easily in areas that have already accumulated a desperate population of Oxy addicts who liquefy and inject the pills. Because OxyContin’s street price is a dollar per milligram, it is a much better deal for addicts who “ha[ve] lost any fear of the needle” to switch over to cheaper, more available, and more convenient heroin. The Man sees that new markets like these could be found wherever there was OxyContin.

Hearing of the Man’s success, other cells begin to establish systems out east. Cells risk losing clients if they dilute their product, so the street price of heroin remains low. Just as they had done in the western cells, the eastern Xalisco dealers emphasize customer service and convenience, offering free drugs to clients. The Man starts a new cell in Charlotte. Soon after this, other Xalisco families follow suit, as “it was a free market, after all.”