Purdue Pharma looks toward its rebirth. The Sacklers enjoy their billions. And 200 people still die every day from the epidemic of opioid addiction they created.
I thought the Hulu series Dopesick did a good job of showing the depravity of the Sacklers and the consequences on ordinary people. I’ve watched it twice now, but don’t know if I can watch it again, it’s really depressing. But thank you very much for this series, it’s excellent. We should be throwing Sacklers in prison instead of bombing innocent Venezuelans.
You're obviously not Venezuelan, because they're celebrating in the streets of Miami, along with Cubans, Colombians, Nicaraguans and other Central & South Americans. Maybe you should listen to them about what's really happening in their motherland. They'll educate you on their drug trafficking networks, including using Cuba as a partner to flood the US with illicit drugs.🤦♀️ Google is free.
Fantastic investigative work here. The detail about the $8 billion headline figure that watered down to $275 million in actual payment is the kind of accounting sleight of hand that usualy flies under the radar. The fact that these billionares just had to sit through Zoom calls while keeping 99% of their wealth is pretty much a masterclass in how white collar crime gets a pass when the body count rivals some wars.
"Personally, I’d have preferred to see every Purdue building torched to the ground and the earth beneath plowed over and salted. I’d have also welcomed seeing corporate executives and Sackler family representatives do jail time, which is what we usually insist upon when we roll up an organized crime ring that’s killed a bunch of people."
Most people would prefer this, I suspect.
Is this sweet heart deal really about protecting just the Sacklers, or the whole rest of the criminal Pharma complex, precedent and all that being crucial to securing further convictions of say, Bourla, for the covid jab fraud?
I have just had major surgery and was prescribed oxycodone. I have taken one or two tablets, but my body seemed to over-react to them. I think I will flush the rest down the toilet. They do get rid of the pain at first, but then the second one causes a very weird reaction.
"Purdue innovated OxyContin to solve opioid diversion, but was killed by the state as deflection Purdue Pharma’s story is not one of greed but of betrayal. OxyContin was designed to solve opioid diversion—an extended-release, abuse-deterrent formulation that did exactly what regulators demanded. Yet when the “opioid epidemic” demanded a villain, Purdue, the ‘bright child’ that had done everything right, was cast out. States’ Attorneys General, backed by a coalition of plaintiff lawyers and the Department of Justice, extracted billions and forced bankruptcy, while the government’s own (Suboxone and) methadone-maintenance model [and the academy’s ADDICTION as DISEASE paradigm] continued to expand dependence nationwide. The state did not kill Purdue directly, but it stood by as ‘the pitchfork mob’ did. Notwithstanding TV-evangelism PAINKILLERS and DOPESICK, America’s true narcotic disease lies not in OxyContin’s tiny market share, but in the state’s partnership with perpetual addiction’s masquerading as treatment. "
my contrary view of Purdue Pharma, scapegoated to cover "the sins of the father", i.e. the government that empowered it : "Purdue Pharma’s story unfolds as a Shakespearean tragedy. Like Julius Caesar, whose ascent was made possible by those who later betrayed him, Purdue rose on the government’s push for broader pain management—“pain as the fifth vital sign”—and FDA approvals of its products.
The company addressed a legitimate medical need but became the scapegoat when perceptions (of a long pre-existing) opioid crisis erupted. Stabbed in the back by the very institutions that once supported it, Purdue bore the brunt of public and legal fury (like King Lear’s Cordelia, to add a Shakespearean metaphor), while the systemic issues that enabled the crisis—unchecked prescriptions, pill mills, illicit drug trade (heroin, fentanyl), and government-supported maintenance therapies—remained relatively untouched." https://brownstone.org/articles/empowered-by-the-state-condemned-by-the-crisis-the-purdue-paradox/
Well said: they kept their freedom and billions, but - thank goodness! - they were yelled at over zoom, which we all know is enough to alter future behaviors.
Is there any pending legislation that would make the top individuals at a Pharma Co personally liable - including jail time and loss of assets - for this type of behavior going forward?
If there is not any pending legislation of that type, what do we need to do to get that initiated? How many times are we going to let variations on the same madness take place with only a hand slap as the consequence?
I'd add two points: it's not just the Sacklers, chain pharmacies, and health care settings that bear responsibility. The FDA and DEA are just as liable. The FDA for approving a label stating that oxy was not addictive long after it was definitely known to be addictive (and 3 months later the head of the FDA stepped down and began working for the Sacklers; the DEA RAISED the legal limit of how much oxycodone could be produced here in the US an astonishing number of times (I want to say 36??) over the twenty years in which the opioid crisis was unfolding. Where where the whistle blowers? There had to have been people in both organizations who were aware of what was going on.
The second point: each opioid death represents (usually) a long period of devastation within a family both before and after the death. Before, as family members witness the downward spiral, anguish over what steps to take, and sometimes drain finances to try to get the person help. After, as they grieve but also deal with all of the ripples - various family members crippled by grief and guilt, the angst over the pattern of substance use/abuse other loved ones are showing, etc.
They paid the DOJ 225 million for them to cast the blame on the Drug distributors and the Drug Chains and etc. Therefore Distributors and Drug chains and etc. paid out about 30 BILLION. Sackler brothers who are physicians without morals through their high priced lawyers has pushed the payment date out by about 7 years. In the meantime, their wealth has probably expanded greatly and is in over seas banks. The basic fact that has been ignored is that the gatekeepers who are the FDA and the CIA have been compromised to allow this to happen. FDA Commissioner was wined and dined to get his approval that he agreed it was non-addicting. In turn, through political connections in DC they tied the hands of the DEA for years. The bottom line is that there is now new case law that is totally without merit that says distributors and drug retailers are just as liable if they buy and sell a drug that causes harm. It is not their expertise and the DOJ knows this.
I thought the Hulu series Dopesick did a good job of showing the depravity of the Sacklers and the consequences on ordinary people. I’ve watched it twice now, but don’t know if I can watch it again, it’s really depressing. But thank you very much for this series, it’s excellent. We should be throwing Sacklers in prison instead of bombing innocent Venezuelans.
You're obviously not Venezuelan, because they're celebrating in the streets of Miami, along with Cubans, Colombians, Nicaraguans and other Central & South Americans. Maybe you should listen to them about what's really happening in their motherland. They'll educate you on their drug trafficking networks, including using Cuba as a partner to flood the US with illicit drugs.🤦♀️ Google is free.
Fantastic investigative work here. The detail about the $8 billion headline figure that watered down to $275 million in actual payment is the kind of accounting sleight of hand that usualy flies under the radar. The fact that these billionares just had to sit through Zoom calls while keeping 99% of their wealth is pretty much a masterclass in how white collar crime gets a pass when the body count rivals some wars.
"Personally, I’d have preferred to see every Purdue building torched to the ground and the earth beneath plowed over and salted. I’d have also welcomed seeing corporate executives and Sackler family representatives do jail time, which is what we usually insist upon when we roll up an organized crime ring that’s killed a bunch of people."
Most people would prefer this, I suspect.
Is this sweet heart deal really about protecting just the Sacklers, or the whole rest of the criminal Pharma complex, precedent and all that being crucial to securing further convictions of say, Bourla, for the covid jab fraud?
I have just had major surgery and was prescribed oxycodone. I have taken one or two tablets, but my body seemed to over-react to them. I think I will flush the rest down the toilet. They do get rid of the pain at first, but then the second one causes a very weird reaction.
"HARMACOLOGY": The Scapegoating of Purdue Pharma
"Purdue innovated OxyContin to solve opioid diversion, but was killed by the state as deflection Purdue Pharma’s story is not one of greed but of betrayal. OxyContin was designed to solve opioid diversion—an extended-release, abuse-deterrent formulation that did exactly what regulators demanded. Yet when the “opioid epidemic” demanded a villain, Purdue, the ‘bright child’ that had done everything right, was cast out. States’ Attorneys General, backed by a coalition of plaintiff lawyers and the Department of Justice, extracted billions and forced bankruptcy, while the government’s own (Suboxone and) methadone-maintenance model [and the academy’s ADDICTION as DISEASE paradigm] continued to expand dependence nationwide. The state did not kill Purdue directly, but it stood by as ‘the pitchfork mob’ did. Notwithstanding TV-evangelism PAINKILLERS and DOPESICK, America’s true narcotic disease lies not in OxyContin’s tiny market share, but in the state’s partnership with perpetual addiction’s masquerading as treatment. "
https://randoctor.substack.com/p/harmacology-the-scapegoating-of-purdue
my contrary view of Purdue Pharma, scapegoated to cover "the sins of the father", i.e. the government that empowered it : "Purdue Pharma’s story unfolds as a Shakespearean tragedy. Like Julius Caesar, whose ascent was made possible by those who later betrayed him, Purdue rose on the government’s push for broader pain management—“pain as the fifth vital sign”—and FDA approvals of its products.
The company addressed a legitimate medical need but became the scapegoat when perceptions (of a long pre-existing) opioid crisis erupted. Stabbed in the back by the very institutions that once supported it, Purdue bore the brunt of public and legal fury (like King Lear’s Cordelia, to add a Shakespearean metaphor), while the systemic issues that enabled the crisis—unchecked prescriptions, pill mills, illicit drug trade (heroin, fentanyl), and government-supported maintenance therapies—remained relatively untouched." https://brownstone.org/articles/empowered-by-the-state-condemned-by-the-crisis-the-purdue-paradox/
Well said: they kept their freedom and billions, but - thank goodness! - they were yelled at over zoom, which we all know is enough to alter future behaviors.
Is there any pending legislation that would make the top individuals at a Pharma Co personally liable - including jail time and loss of assets - for this type of behavior going forward?
If there is not any pending legislation of that type, what do we need to do to get that initiated? How many times are we going to let variations on the same madness take place with only a hand slap as the consequence?
I'd add two points: it's not just the Sacklers, chain pharmacies, and health care settings that bear responsibility. The FDA and DEA are just as liable. The FDA for approving a label stating that oxy was not addictive long after it was definitely known to be addictive (and 3 months later the head of the FDA stepped down and began working for the Sacklers; the DEA RAISED the legal limit of how much oxycodone could be produced here in the US an astonishing number of times (I want to say 36??) over the twenty years in which the opioid crisis was unfolding. Where where the whistle blowers? There had to have been people in both organizations who were aware of what was going on.
The second point: each opioid death represents (usually) a long period of devastation within a family both before and after the death. Before, as family members witness the downward spiral, anguish over what steps to take, and sometimes drain finances to try to get the person help. After, as they grieve but also deal with all of the ripples - various family members crippled by grief and guilt, the angst over the pattern of substance use/abuse other loved ones are showing, etc.
They paid the DOJ 225 million for them to cast the blame on the Drug distributors and the Drug Chains and etc. Therefore Distributors and Drug chains and etc. paid out about 30 BILLION. Sackler brothers who are physicians without morals through their high priced lawyers has pushed the payment date out by about 7 years. In the meantime, their wealth has probably expanded greatly and is in over seas banks. The basic fact that has been ignored is that the gatekeepers who are the FDA and the CIA have been compromised to allow this to happen. FDA Commissioner was wined and dined to get his approval that he agreed it was non-addicting. In turn, through political connections in DC they tied the hands of the DEA for years. The bottom line is that there is now new case law that is totally without merit that says distributors and drug retailers are just as liable if they buy and sell a drug that causes harm. It is not their expertise and the DOJ knows this.
Beyond the $225 million, didn't the Sacklers pay around $10 billion in the bankruptcy case to get releases? (not that $10 billion is enough)