'The Pharmacist' Is the Most Intense Docuseries on Netflix Right Now (2024)

• Netflix's The Pharmacist tells the true story of Dan Schneider and his intense journey to stop drug abuse in the United States.
• The story begins as Schneider, a Louisiana-based pharmacist, solves the murder of his son, discovering a major twist in the process.
• He later confronts a rampant drug abuse problem in his own community.

If you ripped through Netflix's Don't F*** With Cats and found yourself searching for another intense (and disturbing) docuseries to watch, you'll be happy to hear that the streaming service is premiering a slate of binge-worthy documentaries this year.

The latest one, The Pharmacist, centers around the story of Dan Schneider, a small-town pharmacist from Louisiana who gets swept up into a personal battle against the opioid epidemic in the United States.

It all begins when Schneider's son is murdered in the late 1990s while attempting to secure drugs. As the police embark on a long and complicated investigation, Schneider starts to notice how many prescriptions for opioids are being abused in his town, which eventually leads to a takedown of "big pharma."

The murder that started it all

The Pharmacist begins by recounting the tragic death of Dan Schneider's son, Daniel Schneider, Jr. Only 22 years old at the time, Danny Jr. was fatally shot while attempting to secure crack cocaine in New Orleans. In the series' first episode, we see Schneider eventually take his son's murder investigation into his own hands, fed up with the slow-pace of a police investigation without any credible leads. Schneider recounts his investigation through private recordings he often made without telling police.

While simultaneously grieving his son alongside his wife and daughter, Schneider went door to door in New Orleans searching for more information about his son's killer. He faces potential violence from the community as he digs deeper and deeper, despite failing to uncover any real leads, at first. After offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who provided information about Dan Jr.'s killer, police introduce Schneider to Jeffery Hall, a 15-year-old boy who said he saw the murder himself.

Eventually, The Pharmacist reveals how the case was solved, largely due in part to Schneider's determination. But the story doesn't end there: After solving his son's mysterious death, Schneider takes a new interest in the prevalence of prescription drugs in his own community. Surprisingly, St. Bernard Parish was a community with some of the highest rates of prescription drug misuse in the entire nation, according to a 2000 Time article. Schneider only noticed the issue after examining the prescriptions he was fulfilling at the local pharmacy, mostly for OxyContin, prescribed almost entirely by a local medical specialist, Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett, who ran a pain management clinic.

The latter half of the documentary reveals how Schneider collaborated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), as well as local authorities to discredit Dr. Cleggett. Eventually, Purdue Pharma, the group behind the invention of OxyContin — one of the most addictive painkillers in the United States — was sued by multiple states for its role in the nation's burgeoning opioid crisis. The documentary concludes after highlighting that Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy in 2019.

The incredible twist no one saw coming

Part of the reason why The Pharmacist is so enthralling is the twist surrounding Scheinder's investigation into his son's death. Hall, the initial eyewitness who claimed to have information, was able to name a suspect; but upon further research, investigators found that the suspect Hall fingered was already incarcerated at the time of the murder.

But Schneider persists, tracking down a woman in the neighborhood who lived across the street from the scene of the crime, Shane Madding. In the doc, she explains that she initially didn't come forward due to her safety concerns; but in the end, she reveals that Danny Jr.'s killer is actually the eyewitness, Hall.

"I don't feel good about [the murder]," Hall said in the documentary, revealing that he agreed to a plea deal when charged with manslaughter in 2000. "I was just trying to get the heat off me. I just made up a story… I thought I had everything figured out. I was dealing drugs, and I thought I was a big boy."

The Pharmacist ends its murder mystery by revealing that Hall was eventually released after serving a 13-year sentence, at the age of 29. "I took that time and tried to better myself… put it all into how it could have been prevented, but it's still an everyday struggle for me," he said in the film. "I ask this of myself often: How can I move forward when I know that I did wrong?"

Taking down OxyContin

In addition to his journey overcoming the death of his son and finding his murderer, The Pharmacist is largely centered around Schneider's obsession with preventing drug abuse in his community, Louisiana at large, and eventually the whole country. Schneider zeroes in on OxyContin in particular, which contributed to the boom of addiction cases in the U.S. in the early 2000s. The documentary sheds light on the demise of Purdue Pharma, which initially defended the production of OxyContin before offering more than $12 million in settlements in response to more than 2,000 individual lawsuits against the company.

Schneider's quest in Louisiana is one of the many pieces that led to Purdue Pharma's fall, but The Pharmacist details how his efforts are also seen as some of the earliest to quell the spread of OxyContin. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 46,000 individuals died from overdose related to opioids back in 2017, adding that the average American's life expectancy has vastly declined due to the crisis.

What happened to Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett?

How did Schneider first decide to challenge pharmaceutical companies? It started with New Orleans-based pain management specialist Dr. Jacqueline Cleggett. The documentary recounts how Schneider became increasingly suspicious about Cleggett after noticing how many prescriptions he filled with her signature, especially those for OxyContin prescriptions. Viewers also learn that Cleggett's clinic operated on late nights and weekends, and accepted cash as the only form of payment. After he starts digging, Schneider presents his evidence to local authorities, and ends up helping them to revoke Dr. Cleggett's medical license in 2002, according to Newsweek.

In the documentary, Cleggett herself explains that she eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2004 after facing blowback. In 2006, she was involved in a car accident that caused brain damage as well as serious injuries. "I had two brain hemorrhages, and five skull fractures," she says in the documentary. "The reason I sound different is because I was incubated for six weeks; my voice is now higher and squeakier."

Newsweek reports that she pled guilty to dispensing controlled substances in 2009, after accepting a plea deal due to her accident. "I plead guilty to one count even though I knew that I had not done what they stated I done," Cleggett says, and the film clarifies that she never went to jail, although she has promised to never open another clinic again. Investigators also ended up arresting 17 other people who allegedly were distributing drugs prescribed by Cleggett to buyers in Louisiana.

Schneider eventually shares that he felt like his work was done after her conviction.

If you or someone you know is battling addiction, please call the 24/7 The National Drug Helpline at 1-888-633-3239 to receive information about treatment and recovery.