Bankruptcy Deal Shielding Sacklers of Purdue Pharm Goes To Supreme Ct *Film, Opioid Crisis Killed 500,000 In 20 Yrs: NPR

Last edited Mon Dec 4, 2023, 04:34 PM - Edit history (1)

- 'Purdue Pharma, Sacklers' OxyContin settlement lands at the Supreme Court,' NPR, Dec. 4, 2023. Ed.

The Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in a challenge to the deal meant to compensate victims of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin. The opioid crisis comes to the Supreme Court Monday as the justices hear arguments in a challenge to the bankruptcy deal meant to compensate victims of the highly addictive pain killer OxyContin. Under the terms of the deal approved by a lower court, Purdue Pharma—the maker, aggressive peddler, and deceptive marketer of Oxycontin— agreed to pay billions of dollars to those harmed in the opioid epidemic.

In exchange, the deal shields members of the Sackler family from personal liability, though they owned and ran the company. Just what happened at Purdue Pharma, and what the Sacklers did, was not known for a long time. Now, however, their role and the company's have been well documented, in court and movies, books, and documentaries, like Crime of the Century.

"Within the last 20 years, more than 500,000 Americans have been killed by overdoses," the documentary recounts.

"This was a new drug cartel. They were drug dealers wearing suits and lab coats."

- The deal at the center of the case - By 2020, Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to 3 criminal charges. The company agreed that it owed $8 billion in criminal and civil fines, most of it to be paid to state and local governments handling the fallout of the opioid crisis. Most of the money was conditioned on the company reaching a deal in bankruptcy court that would reimburse victims of the opioid epidemic, including those state and local governments, as well as individuals who were harmed.

That deal that is at the center of Monday's case because it releases the Sacklers from personal liability, despite the fact that all 3 of the original Sackler brothers who bought Purdue and ultimately developed OxyContin were doctors. And, 6 Sacklers sat on the board of the company, including the chairman Richard Sackler, who closely directed the firm's aggressive and deceptive marketing strategy of OxyContin as not causing addiction...
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/04/1215717223/purdue-sacklers-oxycontin-supreme-court

- Also: CNN, US Supreme Court to scrutinize controversial opioid crisis settlement that would give Sackler family immunity, Dec. 4, 2023, https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143164595