Segment # 148

The generation of my parents deferred to authority as something familiar and quite frankly reassuring. The potential depravity and pure evil that became evident to the world after both wars of the 20th century was only the beginning. The reality of the 1950’s and 1960’s brought hope and a sense of rebirth motivating the population to believe in something better after decades of three wars. Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex that was only beginning to really have an impact on foreign policy with the escalations in Vietnam. Reasonable well adjusted comfortable people have a very difficult time with the concept of pure evil driven by greed and corruption, It is illogical… it just does not compute. This naivete is precisely what makes it so easy for the powerful to dominate the weak and powerless. Remember the tobacco commercials beginning with Camels “More doctors smoke Camels” that morphed into Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Lucky Strike advertisements that lied their butts (no pun) off to convince us that smoking was sexy, healthy, and empowering. And the U.S. government and the medical community let them do it. The formula hasn’t changed in 90 years.. its about the money and its about pure evil to want to kill for a buck.

You may have seem the recent documentary Dopesick with Michael Keaton telling the story of Purdue Pharma and Oxycontin. This is a must see. Keaton is brilliant.

The new Hulu miniseries “Dopesick” paints a grim and compelling picture of the opioid epidemic, which has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past two decades. The series is based on the bestselling book “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America” by Beth Macy, a journalist and former Nieman Fellow. In a conversation with the Gazette, Macy explained how her time at Harvard contributed to her development as a reporter, detailed her work on the screen adaptation, and shared her reaction to the bankruptcy settlement that granted the Sackler family, owners of OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, immunity from opioid lawsuits. The interview was edited for clarity and length. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/10/former-harvard-fellow-discusses-dopesick-adaptation/

Addiction, Opioid

From ‘Dopesick’ to $6 Billion Purdue Pharma Settlement: Why It Isn’t Enough

March 4, 2022 | Shawn Mawhiney

This Story’s Health Experts

Jonathan Craig Allen, MD

The “Dopesick” limited series starring Michael Keaton follows the civil lawsuit against Purdue Pharma and the role it played in fueling the opioid epidemic that plagues the nation to this day.

In “Dopesick,” Keaton stars as a small-town primary care doctor who is convinced by a sales rep to start prescribing OxyContin, which ends up hooking his patients and even himself — leading to a dark, downward spiral of people who get sick when they don’t have dope or even die of overdose.

On March 3, the Stamford-based Purdue Pharma and the Sackler families who were the focus of “Dopesick” settled a civil lawsuit that awards a group of victims and eight states — including Connecticut — up to $6 billion in damages. The settlement still needs to be approved by a judge.

While $6 billion may seem like a lot, many families will not receive enough to even cover the cost of a funeral for their loved ones who died of drug overdoses.

Dr. J. Craig Allen, Hartford HealthCare Behavioral Health Network Vice President of Addiction Services, added that the settlement is “just a drop in the bucket” compared to the human and monetary toll the opioid epidemic has taken. Connecticut will receive $95 million, which doesn’t come close to covering the costs of a state with 1,400 overdoses in the past year alone.

“Companies like Purdue propagated misinformation, pressed misleading claims and utilized deceptive marketing practices,” Dr. Allen said, “which led to the inappropriate prescribing and overprescribing of opioid analgesics — pain medications that should have been reserved for specific conditions, limited doses for limited periods of time.”

The new agreement, reached after eight states and the District of Columbia appealed a previous deal, has been met with mixed reactions, especially from families who have lost loved ones due to opioids. For many, the lawsuit is about more than just money — they want the opportunity to confront the Sackler family in court, a request that might bring the closure that so far has eluded them.

The settlement does not provide protection to the Sackler families from any future liability relating to the opioid crisis, forces them to give up control of the company and would require all company profits to go towards the opioid crisis.

Dr. Allen said the money earmarked for Connecticut – approximately $95 million — should go to fund traditional programs that are proven to work, as well as more innovative programs such as those that include:

Recovery Support Specialists, specially trained staff members who have overcome addiction to work side-by-side with Behavioral Health Network clinicians to treat and support substance-use patients in traditional settings.
Meeting patients ‘where they are’ in the community, such as Rushford‘s MORR program, in which behavioral health and law enforcement work together in the community to put people in treatment rather than jail.
Harm-reduction strategies such as making naloxone, a medication also known as Narcan that reverses opioid overdose, more readily available statewide, and a full continuum of services for children and adolescents to stop opioid abuse early.

Allen added that while the culprits of overdoses have changed – heroin and OxyContin have been replaced by the fentanyl, which is even more powerful – the problem remains. To learn more about the opioid epidemic from Dr. Allen, listen to this podcast. https://healthnewshub.org/from-dopesick-to-6-billion-purdue-pharma-settlement-why-it-isnt-enough/

But it is not over

Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Purdue Pharma Settlement That Would’ve Protected The Sackler Family From Civil Lawsuits - Case to Argued Before the Supreme Court December 2023

William Skipworth

Forbes Staff

I am a breaking news reporter.

Aug 10, 2023,04:50pm EDT

The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a $6 billion bankruptcy settlement Thursday that would’ve protected the company’s owners, the Sackler family, from civil lawsuits related to opioid abuse, and will hear the case in the fall, multiple news organizations reported.

The U.S. Supreme Court, pictured June 8, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Key Facts

During the bankruptcy proceedings of Purdue Pharma, one of the drug companies widely considered to be responsible for the opioid epidemic, the Sackler family had agreed to pay $6 billion to settle opioid-related claims in exchange for immunity from future cases related to opioid abuse.

Thursday’s decision from the court temporarily pauses that deal and sets the stage for the issue to be debated in front of Supreme Court justices in December.

The question that will be debated centers around whether the bankruptcy court had the authority to approve such a deal, specifically whether it could shield the Sackler family from facing victims in court.

The challenge to the bankruptcy agreement was brought by the Department of Justice, which argued bankruptcy protections like the one in question should not be used to shield the Sacklers personally, according to the New York Times.

Key Background

Purdue Pharma made billions of dollars on its incredibly popular painkiller Oxycontin, which was first approved in December 1995. The company aggressively marketed the drugs while lying about its addictive qualities and harmful impacts, according to the conclusions of multiple government agencies and courts. In the early 2000s, reports of fatal overdoses from prescription drugs, particularly opioids, skyrocketed, with OxyContin at the center of the problem, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In 2007, the company pleaded guilty to misbranding the drug, but continued to sell and advertise it. However, investigations continued until the company once again pleaded guilty in 2020 to criminal charges including defrauding U.S. regulators and providing kickbacks to doctors who pushed the drug despite its dangers. The deal in which they plead guilty imposed roughly $8.3 billion of penalties on the company and opened the door to potentially thousands of civil lawsuits for victims, lawsuits that the Sackler family attempted to avoid liability for with the deal the Supreme Court Blocked Thursday.

Not only has nothing changed, it has become more the rule than the exception. We will look at Big Food that is poisoning our kids, Big Pharma that continues without accountability and efficacy testing on their products, and the continued corruption of our Medical Industry. Last night we watched the Big Short that told the story of the collapse of the housing market. Clearly we have learned nothing in failing to require government oversight. The recent bank failures show again the government greasing the skids. Clearly Institutional government hates a populist that will threaten not only their ability to cheat but also their very freedom. As grotesque as the internet is in many ways it is the only way information has gotten to the masses. Legacy media and the government short of a complete totalitarian take over are unable to stop the flow of information.

Accountability Series - Pure Evil Killing for Profit