Sackler’s – Opiate Nation

SCOTUS Decision on Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family

Can money compensate for a life destroyed by a greedy family and their products?

(Translation available in most languages at tab on the right)

My husband and I recently returned from visiting his relatives in Norway. Even in that enviable nation, a mother shared her anguish about the 45 yr old son who is still “living” with addiction to prescription opioids. He is not really living – he is just surviving with little hope for his future as rehab failures mount up.

On Thursday, June 27 the Supreme Court handed down their decision on the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case in which it would have paid billions for victims and states BUT would have shielded the Sackler family from any future liability.

The majority (5-4) ruled that the bankruptcy court did not have the authority to release the Sackler family members from opioid victims’ legal claims. The Biden administration had argued the bankruptcy court could not release the Sacklers from the claims.

The U.S. Trustee, which oversees bankruptcies under the Justice Department, as well as eight states, Washington, D.C., and the city of Seattle, objected to the Purdue Pharma deal. The trustee argued that the liability the Sacklers face could induce voluntary settlements more favorable than those under the plan and that a win for the Sacklers “would provide a ‘roadmap for corporations and wealthy individuals to misuse the bankruptcy system’ in future cases,” Gorsuch wrote in the opinion.(1)

Looking Back to See the Future

(Translation into most languages is available to the right.)

When I am doing research for an upcoming blog post, I can get lost. There is so much information now on drug addiction and the opioid epidemic that I suddenly look at the clock and realize I’ve been wandering virtually around the world and becoming more discouraged with each new article or report: Scotland has more drug overdose deaths per capita than any European country (1); Fentanyl is flooding California with overdose deaths skyrocketing (2); the use of over-the-counter codeine (an opiate) cough medicine among eighth graders in the US has increased (3); and, Australia now has the eighth-highest per-capita opioid consumption in the world (4).

The Politics of Drugs: Purdue & the DOJ

(Seventh in a series of topical blogs based on chapter by chapter excerpts from Opiate Nation. Translation into most languages is available to the right.)

When public health is at risk, one can only wonder about the motives behind politicians’ decisions – our “public servants” as they used to be referred to – regardless of what they may say. But we don’t have to guess their motives because actions speak louder than words and the actions of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) this week regarding Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family are unconscionable. This deal is not justice for the victims and their families for this pervasive and criminal corporate greed.