I guess I'm blissfully ignorant in that I don't even know what Fentanyl is. (I've hear of it but I don't know a damn thing about it).
Drugs have passed me by...
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I guess I'm blissfully ignorant in that I don't even know what Fentanyl is. (I've hear of it but I don't know a damn thing about it).
Drugs have passed me by...
If you have kids coming of age it's definitely something you would want to have an understanding about.
Reason # 643 I am glad not to have kids.
1995 Milwaukee 1998 Alpine, Alpine 2003 Albany, Boston, Boston, Boston 2004 Boston, Boston 2006 Hartford, St. Paul (Petty), St. Paul (Petty) 2011 Alpine, Alpine 2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
That's a different type of fentanyl. That's the kind they give women, like my wife, when going into labor with an epidural.
Synthetic fentanyl is shipped here in droves from Mexico and China from production plants where it's made stupid cheap and is nearly untraceable.
All fentanyl is synthetic, but you’re correct that the illicit fentanyl imported for the street drug trade is of much lower quality and more dangerous than the pharmaceutical grade fentanyl used in medical applications.
my small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf
A federal judge rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement of thousands of lawsuits over the opioid epidemic Thursday because of a provision that would protect members of the Sackler family from facing litigation of their own.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in New York found that federal bankruptcy law does not give the bankruptcy judge who had accepted the plan the authority to grant that kind of release for people who are not declaring bankruptcy themselves.
In a statement Thursday night, the company said that it would appeal the ruling and at the same time try to forge another plan that its creditors will agree to.
Purdue said the ruling will not hurt the company's operations, but it will make it harder for company and Sackler money to be used to fight the opioid crisis as the legal fight continues.
"It will delay, and perhaps end, the ability of creditors, communities, and individuals to receive billions in value to abate the opioid crisis,” said Steve Miller, chairman of the Purdue board of directors. “These funds are needed now more than ever as overdose rates hit record-highs, and we are confident that we can successfully appeal this decision and deliver desperately needed funds to the communities and individuals suffering in the midst of this crisis.”
Representatives of the two branches of the family who own the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for the descendants of Mortimer Sackler, one of the late brothers who owned the company, had no comment.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who was among a handful of state officials seeking to have the deal undone, called the ruling “a seismic victory for justice and accountability.” Tong said the ruling will “re-open the deeply flawed Purdue bankruptcy and force the Sackler family to confront the pain and devastation they have caused.”
Purdue sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 as it faced thousands of lawsuits claiming the company pushed doctors to prescribe OxyContin, helping spark an opioid crisis that has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the last two decades.
Through the bankruptcy court, it worked out a deal with its creditors. Members of the Sackler family would give up ownership of the company, which would transform into a different kind of entity that would still sell opioids — but with profits being used to fight the crisis. It would also develop new anti-addiction and anti-overdose drugs and provide them at little or no cost.
Sackler family members also would contribute $4.5 billion in cash and charitable assets as part of an overall deal that could be worth $10 billion, including the value of the new drugs, if they're brought to market.
Government entities and businesses agreed to use any money they receive fighting the opioid epidemic. The deal also calls for millions of company documents, including communications with lawyers, to be made public.
In return, members of the wealthy family would get protection from lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis — both the 860 already filed and any others in the future.
Most state and local governments, Native American tribes, individual opioid victims and others who voted said the plan worked out in the bankruptcy court should be accepted.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, like several others, sued Sackler family members and opposed the settlement before eventually agreeing to it this year. She said in a statement that if the deal doesn’t hold up, she’s ready to resume the civil lawsuit: “Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family remain named defendants in our ongoing litigation and we will hold them accountable for their unlawful behavior, one way or another.”
The U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee's office, eight state attorneys general and some other entities have been fighting the deal. They argue that it does not properly hold members of the Sackler family accountable and that it usurps states' ability to try to do so.
A bankruptcy court judge approved the plan over the objections in September. But the opponents appealed to McMahon's court.
The main issue on the appeal was the lawfulness of the measures that would extend legal protections to family members.
Such “third-party releases” are not used in most bankruptcy cases, but they are common in cases such as Purdue's, in which the companies involved are burdened with lawsuits and have relatively little value — but their wealthy owners could contribute.
The Purdue deal would not protect family members from any criminal charges. But so far none have been filed, and there are no signs that any are forthcoming, though some activists are calling for charges.
In a hearing, McMahon focused in on how Sackler family members transferred $10.4 billion from the privately held Stamford, Connecticut-based company over the decade before the bankruptcy. McMahon wanted to know whether the money was moved in part to ensure a role for the Sacklers in bankruptcy negotiations.
But in her ruling Thursday, McMahon did not dig deeply into those transfers or the idea of holding Sackler family members accountable for the opioid crisis. Instead, she focused on whether the bankruptcy law even allows for the kind of deal the company and its creditors struck if there are objections to it.
“The great unsettled question in this case is whether the Bankruptcy Court – or any court – is statutorily authorized to grant such releases. This issue has split the federal Circuits for decades,” she wrote.
She also noted that other courts will weigh in on the case. The next step is likely before the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
“This opinion will not be the last word on the subject, nor should it be," she wrote. “This issue has hovered over bankruptcy law for thirty-five years.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Just finished watching Dopesixk. Saw a few mention it on the last page. It was a really great show. I know some of the characters were made up, but assuming the facts about Perdue and the storyline are accurate, it was also very eye opening on how Perdue Pharma contributed to this problem. I knew they had sales reps and tried to sell Oxy, but the extent that they lied and broke laws was incredible. They way they had the FDA in their pocket was disgusting. And that no one was really held liable. 3 execs faced charges, but no jail time. The Sackler family and anyone in charge of the company should have been charged with 500,000 cases of unintentional manslaughter.
Uncertainty follows court's rejection of Purdue opioids deal
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Today
A federal judge's decision to reject a multibillion dollar opioid settlement involving OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is being hailed as a step toward justice by advocates who have long called for greater accountability for the family that owns the company.
But not everyone involved in the arduous settlement process is celebrating, including some advocates who have lost loved ones to the nation's ongoing — and growing — addiction crisis. The ruling Thursday from New York-based U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon is a blow to those who sought to use billions of dollars from Purdue and from the Sackler family members involved with the company to fight the epidemic.
“It could be dragged out for months, if not years,” said Cheryl Juaire of Massachusetts, who has lost two grown sons to opioid overdoses.
Juaire founded an organization for grieving parents and was a voice for victims on a committee during the Purdue bankruptcy proceedings that led to the settlement vacated this week.
“Every day, 265 people are dying. The attorneys are getting richer because they’ve still got a job to do, and lives are being lost,” she said. "When is somebody going to say, ‘This is all about the lives?’”
Avi Israel also lost a son to opioid addiction, but sees this week's ruling differently. Like Juaire, he has dedicated his life to fighting addiction, starting Save the Michaels of the World, a group that has helped get 1,200 people in western New York into addiction treatment this year.
He said Thursday's decision was the right one.
“You could give me all the money in the world; that’s not going to bring my son back,” said Israel, who also sits on a state board that helps distribute money New York brings in from opioid litigation.
Allowing lawsuits to move forward against Sackler family members could have a more long-lasting effect by deterring corporate executives from pushing medications they know could cause harm.
“I want them to know what it feels like for millions of us in this holiday season, when you sit at the table and you stare at an empty chair and you know that all of that could have been avoided," he said.
The contrasting views of justice in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy reflect a complicated case at the center of multiple lawsuits seeking to hold players in the drug industry accountable for the nationwide epidemic of addiction and overdoses. Combined, prescription and illicit versions of the drugs have been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades, and it's gotten worse during the coronavirus pandemic. Federal officials say there were 100,000 overdose deaths in the 12 months that ended in April, the majority of them from opioids.
The Purdue case is the highest-profile, but it's not the largest opioid settlement in the works. The drug distribution companies AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson, plus drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, have agreed to a settlement worth $26 billion over time. The deal relies on having a critical mass of local governments surrender their right to sue and sign on.
Facing thousands of lawsuits from state and local governments, unions, hospitals and others, Purdue filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 as part of an effort to settle the cases. After negotiations and mediation, it reached a deal supported by the overwhelming majority of state and local governments, as well as individuals with claims who voted on it.
The plan calls for Sackler family members to give up ownership of Purdue. The transformed company would continue to make OxyContin, but with profits going to fight the opioid crisis. It also would try to develop low- or no-cost drugs to reverse overdoses and treat addictions. Sackler family members would contribute $4.5 billion over time in cash and charitable assets.
Most of the money would flow to government entities, which would be obligated to use it to fight the crisis and not just to fill their budgets.
“The most important thing to me is that in the plan, every single penny has to be used for the epidemic,” Juaire said.
Because of the advocacy of Juaire and other representatives of victims, a portion of the settlement — $750 million — would go to individual victims and their families. Payments were expected to range from $3,500 to $48,000. That set the Purdue deal apart from other large opioid settlements, where money for individual victims is not included.
But the deal came with one catch that angered many advocates, state attorneys general and others: The Sacklers would be protected from all current and future civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids.
Under a 2020 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the company pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a deal that would waive most of their $8.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures as long as it entered a settlement that would use money to fight the opioid crisis. Members of the Sackler family agreed separately to pay $225 million to settle federal civil claims. There are no indications that criminal charges could emerge against family members, though some activists are pressing officials to file them.
Eight states and the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee, a part of the Department of Justice, objected to the bankruptcy settlement and appealed after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge accepted the deal in September.
Their arguments swayed Judge McMahon. In her ruling, she said bankruptcy law does not give judges the power to accept deals that protect people who are not themselves filing for bankruptcy protection if some parties in the case don't agree.
The decision “puts a fine point on the idea that there cannot be two systems of justice in this country,” one for the wealthy and one for everyone else," Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in an interview Friday.
Purdue said it would appeal but that it also would keep trying to find a settlement all parties would accept.
McMahon anticipated an appeal in her ruling: “This opinion will not be the last word on the subject, nor should it be.” She said the issue of third-party releases has hovered over bankruptcy law for decades, with federal circuit courts disagreeing about whether they can be granted.
The appeal will go to the New York-based U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. It's expected that whichever side loses will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.
Congress also has considered legislation that would prohibit the kind of protections granted to Sackler family members, but the bill has stalled.
Representatives of the Sackler family have said in court, depositions and congressional hearings that they have not done anything improper and are not responsible for the opioid epidemic. They have not commented on Thursday's ruling.
The Department of Justice, under different leadership than it was 13 months ago when Purdue pleaded guilty, praised McMahon's decision.
“The bankruptcy court did not have the authority to deprive victims of the opioid crisis of their right to sue the Sackler family," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
It will be interesting if the Sacklers will be taken out and left to be peasants just like the fictional character Mortimer in Trading Places. It would only be fitting if a real life rich person named Mortimer became a pauper.
I do not think it will happen though. One of the courts will upheld their appeal.
Suits against OxyContin owners on hold; negotiations ordered
GEOFF MULVIHILL
Today
Even though one judge rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's sweeping settlement of thousands of lawsuits over the opioid crisis, another refused Wednesday to allow litigation to move ahead just yet against members of the Sackler family who own the company — but also ordered negotiations for a reworked settlement.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain on Wednesday granted Purdue's request to extend an injunction until Feb. 1 protecting the company and the Sacklers from litigation. He also ordered Purdue, the Sacklers, the states and other parties to negotiate a new settlement.
In a hearing conducted Wednesday via video conference, the White Plains, New York-based judge warned the family and others that he would end the protections early if there are not serious talks toward a new settlement. “If the parties do not negotiate in good faith,” he said, “they will face the consequences of the injunction unraveling.”
The deal had been hashed out over two years of negotiations and mediation in bankruptcy court. Eventually, lawyers for the overwhelming majority of local governments and states signed on. The plan called for members of the Sackler family to give up ownership of Purdue, which would be transformed into a new company whose profits would be used to fight the opioid crisis.
Sackler family members would also contribute $4.5 billion in cash and charitable assets, with the money to go to victims of the crisis and efforts to end the crisis, which has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000, counting overdoses of both prescription opioids and illicit ones, such as heroin and illegally produced fentanyl.
In exchange for the contributions, Sackler family members were also granted protections from lawsuits over opioids.
But eight states and one office in the U.S. Department of Justice objected. They said it was improper for them to be forced to give up their right to sue members of the Sackler family, who themselves were not seeking bankruptcy protection. The holdout states argued that the $4.5 billion does not properly hold the family members accountable.
In December, U.S District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled in favor of those states, finding that judges do not have authority to grant third-party releases as Drain did.
Purdue said it would appeal that ruling while also trying again to strike a settlement deal that all the states would be willing to join. The Stamford, Connecticut-based company also asked Drain to protect it and the family from lawsuits while that's sorted out. A injunction previously in place was to expire Thursday.
Two states — Connecticut and Washington — argued that suits against the Sacklers should be allowed to move ahead immediately. Those states said they would not move ahead now with litigation against the company.
Irve Goldman, a lawyer for Connecticut, said in court Wednesday that their suits against the Sacklers won’t be resumed immediately if the family members are in good-faith settlement negotiations. He also said that the Sacklers have not been in such talks so far since the settlement was dissolved on Dec. 16.
Lawyers for Sackler family did not speak at Wednesday’s hearing. Representatives of the family did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.
Connecticut and Washington said in a filing that the Sacklers would agree to an appropriate settlement only if lawsuits can move ahead and they “are then forced to come to grips with the prospect of continued litigation against them.”
But Benjamin Kaminetzky, a lawyer for Purdue, told Drain in court that the opposite was true. “If the stay is lifted, everyone will be scrambling to get their claims on file as quickly as possible,” he said. “In this environment, negotiations would be an afterthought at best, likely a no-thought.”
Still, he said that if the Sackler family does not negotiate in January, Purdue would not seek further injunctions to protect the family from lawsuits.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I have an idea for settlement with the family themselves seperate from the company.
It
goes like this All monies made from sale of oxy is forfeited to include
the capital gains made from that profit. Every last dime. do the math
on their assets in place before fda approved this drug and allow for a
modest capital gains amount to be aded to their base asset figure.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I still don't see how the FDA gets a free pass on this.
those people are long out of government.
Doesn't mean there couldn't be a class action against them either to take in money.
Pretty sure there is a law that prevents the FDA from being sued for approving medications and vaccines etc. It is the reason that Pfizer and Moderna are also shielded from law suits in case there are freak side effects down the road.
An opioid-ravaged West Virginia town awaits trial verdict
By JOHN RABY
Today
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Sarah Kelly recalls the fleeting moments when she reached out for help during a decadeslong opioid addiction, only to find out no residential treatment beds were available in an overloaded system in her corner of West Virginia.
In the hardest-hit county in the nation's worst-hit state for drug overdose deaths per capita, Kelly’s struggles with prescription pain pills cost her custody of her two children. Her younger sister died of a heart infection from intravenous drug use in 2017.
Somehow, the Huntington resident wouldn't let her addiction win.
“I was so tired of living without them,” Kelly said. “I couldn’t live without them anymore.”
Six months have passed since closing arguments were held in the first lawsuit over the U.S. addiction epidemic to go to trial. It blames three pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis in the Huntington area. For Kelly and others who know the desperation that comes with addiction, the time it's taken to render a verdict seems out of step with the urgency they feel.
Kelly eventually found treatment and went to court to get her kids back. She's been in recovery since October 2019. But that nightmare of being unable to locate a bed right away comes rushing back as a decision looms in the lawsuit.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
By Meryl Kornfield February 25 at 8:38 AM EST Three major drug distributors and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson finalized a $26 billion agreement on Friday to bring relief to states and communities affected by the opioid epidemic, in what lawyers say is a turning point in the deadly public health crisis. The companies’ announcement, a formal declaration that the firms will go through with a previously reported deal, kick-starts a 60-day countdown to the date the deal is considered effective, the beginning of the release of funds — money that local leaders across the country have started determining how to spend. After an unprecedented effort to achieve close to a national consensus for the deal, a vast majority of communities have agreed to take part, launching new measures to tackle opioid abuse, including new transparency into drug shipments. The distributors, Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, said in a joint statement Friday that 46 out of 49 eligible states have joined their settlement, which was “sufficient participation” to proceed. Johnson & Johnson, which has committed as much as $5 billion in the settlement, also confirmed it would move forward with the agreement. Lawyers representing the communities in the massive web of federal litigation over the opioid epidemic say governments covering about 90 percent of the U.S. population have signed on to the deal, agreeing to drop legal claims against the companies in exchange for the funds. Separately, Native American tribes reached an agreement this month with the companies for a $665 million cut of the national sum. “It’s huge,” said Joe Rice, a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs suing drug companies. “I think it’s the beginning of turning the curve against the opioid epidemic in small-town America. Looking back, I can’t think of any other situation where national litigation has put the money directly in the hands of small-town America. And they deserve it. They’re the ones that are fighting this battle.” [The opioid files] Rice and other lawyers, including states’ attorneys general, have spent months explaining the framework of the settlement to local officials to coordinate the sweeping agreement, which could have failed if a critical mass was not achieved. Those who question the agreement with the companies raise concerns that the money is insufficient to cover the total cost of the drug epidemic and could be misused, as were the payouts from a 1998 settlement with major tobacco companies. Thousands of communities have claimed in courts that distributors ignoring red flags and manufacturers falsely advertising their drugs’ nonaddictive potential flooded their area with pain pills, leading to widespread addiction and overdoses that have continued to strain their health-care systems and social services. The companies do not admit wrongdoing. “They say, ‘It’s just not enough money to solve the problem,’ ” Rice said, describing those conversations with local leaders. “And I say, ‘You’re right. It’s not.’ But we’re never going to solve the problem with money alone.”
Negotiators of the deal say the industry will face unprecedented scrutiny going forward, as the settlement establishes an independent clearinghouse to oversee data from distributors showing where and when they are shipping drugs. Johnson & Johnson stopped selling opioids in the United States.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
What opioid victims told Sacklers when they got the chance
By The Associated Press
58 mins ago
A virtual hearing Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court gave survivors of opioid addiction and people who lost loved ones to the crisis what they have long desired — the chance to confront members of the family behind OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma. They blamed the Sackler family members for helping fuel the epidemic through marketing of Purdue's signature painkiller OxyContin and for failing to take responsibility for their role.
Three Sackler family members attended the hearing: Richard, Theresa and David Sackler. Under court rules, they could not respond and had to sit silently while roughly two dozen people gave emotional statements.
Richard Sackler appeared only via audio; he is the former Purdue president and board chair who has said the company and family bear no responsibility for the opioid crisis. He also is a son of Raymond Sackler, one of the three brothers who in the 1950s bought the company that became Purdue Pharma. Theresa Sackler is a British dame and wife of the late Mortimer D. Sackler, another of the brothers, while David Sackler is Richard Sackler’s son. Both appeared on video.
What some of the victims, selected by lawyers for creditors in the case, said when they finally got the chance to speak directly to the Sacklers:
Kristy Nelson played a tape of her 911 call reporting that her son was unresponsive. Later this month, she and her husband will go to the cemetery to mark what would have been Bryan's 34th birthday and pointed out that Richard Sackler turned 77 on Thursday: “I understand today’s your birthday, Richard. How will you be celebrating? I guarantee it won’t be in the cemetery. ... You have truly benefitted from the death of children. You are scum of the earth.”
Her husband, Bill, a judge in Indianapolis, added: “I seriously doubt that anything any of us say today to these people will have any effect whatsoever. When we are done, David and Theresa will do whatever billionaires and dames do. Richard will hang up his phone and go do whatever greedy billionaire cowards do on their birthdays.”
___
A BROKEN MAN
Vitaly Pinkusov lost his wife to an overdose when she was 32 and held up a photo of her: “Please understand that I stand here before you as a broken man. ... I’m broken, so please look at me. You can look me in the eyes, or you can avoid looking at me. ... I’m the face of the opioid epidemic. ... How do I feel about you? ... The closest feeling is the feeling of pure contempt. I do not forgive you. ... You are not condemned to death. You are condemned to eternal infamy without the possibility of release.”
___
‘YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID’
Ryan Hampton, who became addicted after being prescribed OxyContin for a knee injury, addressed Richard Sackler: “You know what you did. I hope that every single victim’s face haunts your every waking moment and your sleeping ones, too. I hope you hear our names in your dreams. … I hope you hear the sirens. I hope you hear the heart monitor as it beats along with failing pulse. ... You poisoned our lives and had the audacity to blame us for dying. ... Richard Sackler, you are the abuser, you are the criminal, and you are the culprit."
___
KEEPING GRANDPA SAFE
Wendy Olsen told how her father, a retired pediatrician and Army officer, became addicted after a hospital stay in his 80s, decades after turning back a Purdue sales representative who suggested he should prescribe OxyContin. “The colonel barked out his orders demanding OxyContin,” she said of when he returned home. “When we refused, he went into shaky, pukey withdrawal.” Since then, it’s been a struggle to keep him safe. Olsen’s son, Danny, said he now sleeps on the sofa “with one eye open to intercept Grandpa” before he harms himself. “No amount of money can shield your conscience from the pain you’ve caused – not relieved, but caused,” he said.
___
AN EMPTY MOTHER'S DAY
Kim Blake, a Vermont doctor who lost her son to an overdose after he was released from prison, where he could not get medication to treat his addiction: “I couldn’t face another Mother’s Day without him. I have never taken your drug, but it has nearly cost me my life.”
___
THE COST OF ADDICTION
Kathy Strain, a Pennsylvania mother caring for children with addiction, said medication to treat it was expensive. She said she worked 16-hour overnight shifts as often as possible so she could keep days free to ferry her children to treatment: “Costs were so high that sometimes we had to purchase medication daily, and some days I had to choose which of my children I could help, based on my best guess of which one was most likely to make it through that day. Can you, Richard, imagine how to make that decision? You will never have the slightest clue of what that meant to me.”
___
ARTIST'S LIVELIHOOD LOST
Nan Goldin described how she rapidly became addicted to OxyContin after a prescription following wrist surgery. Her career as an artist fell apart, she didn’t leave her room for three years, and she overdosed in 2017 and spent months in a clinic. “It’s nice to finally see the Sacklers face to face,” she said. She called for federal criminal charges against the Sacklers and said their recent statement of responsibility, in which they expressed regret for the toll of OxyContin but did not explicitly apologize, was “insulting to all of us who’ve been damaged by them.”
___
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?
Cheryl Juaire, a Massachusetts woman who lost two sons to opioid overdoses: “How much money is enough? Really, truly, how much is enough? If your family had any remorse at all, you could have changed the trajectory by taking your money back in 2007 and used it to abate this crisis.”
___
EMPATHY OVER MONEY
Stephanie Lubinski, whose addicted husband took his own life in their home in 2020: “Richard, David and Theresa, you have made an insane amount of money off of our family, more than you could ever spend,” she said, noting that she is grappling with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. “Can’t you all feel one bit of empathy for the victims, the devastation that your drug has caused?”
___
MERCY ON YOUR SOULS
“I am no longer the woman I once was. You have cheated my children from the mother I once was, you have cheated my husband from the wife I once was,” said Jill Cichowicz, whose twin brother, Scott, died of a fentanyl overdose in 2017. “However, I can still look in the mirror and know that I am a good person. ... May God have mercy on all your souls, because no one in this room will.”
___
ANGRY BUT MOVING FORWARD
Jannette Adams' husband, Dr. Thomas Adams, died in 2015 after becoming addicted to opioids following pitches by pharmaceutical company representatives: “I’m angry, I’m pissed, but I move on. Because our society lost a person who could have made so many more contributions. ... You took so much from us, but we plan to, through our faith in God, move forward."
___
ADDICTED AND PREGNANT
Kara Trainor, who is in recovery, gave birth to her son while on methadone to treat her addiction: “If you’ve ever heard a newborn in withdrawal, the screaming will haunt you for the rest of your life."
___
DESPICABLE
Shelly Whitaker is the mother of three children born dependent on opioids that were prescribed to her for medical conditions: “You are despicable. Your greed has affected my children for the rest of their lives,” she said “I do take full responsibility for what I did.” She said she wished the Sacklers would do likewise.
___
‘PAY A LITTLE MONEY’
Randi Pollock's brother became addicted to OxyContin that was prescribed for nerve pain: “If you could at least take responsibility and apologize and pay a little money to people who have dead people in their family, because they don’t have the opportunity to go to rehab, I just think that would make a big difference and it doesn’t take too much effort on your part.”
___
'I'M OUTRAGED'
“When you created OxyContin, you created so much loss for so many people," said Kay Scarpone, who lost her son Joseph. "I’m outraged that you haven’t owned up to the crisis that you’ve created.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I haven't read through this whole thread, but I watched 'Dopesick'. I found it difficult at times, mainly because two family members of mine went through the exact same things as people in the story.
I haven't read through this whole thread, but I watched 'Dopesick'. I found it difficult at times, mainly because two family members of mine went through the exact same things as people in the story.
Yeah, difficult all around. I saw Michael Keaton was breaking up during he speech dedicating it to his nephew who passed.
Brooklyn Magazine had a nice feature on Nan Goldin and her part in getting the Sackler name and their “toxic philanthropy” out of the art world.
In 2014 Goldin was prescribed [OxyContin] for the tendonitis she was suffering from in her left wrist. In spite of taking the pills exactly as the doctor prescribed, she quickly became hooked. “The first time I got a ‘script it was 40 milligrams and it was too strong for me; they made me nauseated and dulled. By the end, I was on 450 milligrams a day. Eventually I was crushing and snorting them.” When doctors refused to supply her any more, she turned to the black market, and to cheaper hard street drugs whenever she ran out of money.
Emerging from rehab again in 2018, she began reading up on OxyContin and its active ingredient oxycodone, a chemical cousin of heroin, and twice as powerful as morphine. What she learned was that OxyContin was manufactured by Purdue Pharma, a company owned by one of the world’s leading cultural and academic philanthropists—the Sacklers.
Purdue played a “special role” in the country’s opioid crisis, according to a New Yorker deep dive on the Sackler family, which notes the company “was the first to set out, in the 1990s, to persuade the American medical establishment that strong opioids should be much more widely prescribed—and that physicians’ longstanding fears about the addictive nature of such drugs were overblown.”
According to The U.S. Department of Justice in a 2020 hearing before the Committee of Oversight and Reform at the House of Representatives, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family spent decades “misleading the DEA, defrauding the United States, paying kickbacks to companies that would steer patients on to OxyContin, and exacerbating the opioid epidemic. All the while, the Sackler family profited immensely from the deaths of millions of Americans.”
Making the link between her own addiction to OxyContin and the ongoing opioid crisis, Goldin founded Prescription Addiction Intervention Now, or PAIN, with the initial goal of highlighting the full extent of art institutions’ financial collusion with the Sackler family—and thus their complicity in a public health crisis that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths nationwide since 1999.
“I picked this fight because I was an opioid addict myself,” she says.
Modeling PAIN on ACT UP, a group of grassroots activists that, in 1987, united in anger and committed dramatic acts of civil disobedience to address the AIDS crisis, media-savvy Goldin organized actions against art institutions with protests dramatic enough to capture public attention. The goal was to put an end to ‘toxic’ philanthropy.
On March 10, 2018 Goldin and a group of about 100 demonstrators marched into the Sackler Wing’s Temple of Dendur at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, scattering pill bottles into the moat with mock labels such as “Side Effect: Death,” and “Prescribed to you by the Sackler family.” “It was about a thousand bottles bobbing in the water,” as Goldin describes it.
Next came the ‘die-ins.’
Storming New York’s Guggenheim Museum, Goldin and her group lay down on their backsamidst a sea of fake opioid prescriptions, chanting slogans like: “Sacklers lie; people die! People, not profit!”
The activism was effective: A month after the ‘die-in’ the Guggenheim announced it would no longer accept Sackler contributions. And, in 2019 the Metropolitan Museum of Art went one step further, they removed the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces, including the wing that houses the iconic Temple of Dendur.
Soon after, the Louvre in Paris removed the Sackler name, as did the Serpentine North Gallery (once called the Serpentine Sackler Gallery) in London.
At London’s National Portrait Gallery, Goldin threatened to boycott a potential retrospective if they accepted the $1.3 million dollar donation that the family had been offering. Of course, the gallery turned down the funds, marking another victory in PAIN’s fight over the ethics of art funding.
It seems natural to draw a straight line between Goldin’s activism and her art. “I was actively involved with the AIDS crisis and my work was alway credited with being political on a personal level,” says Goldin. “Artists, in this day and age, can’t stay silent. They have to find a cause, they have to find their fight.”
Judge: Pharmacies owe 2 Ohio counties $650M in opioids suit
By MARK GILLISPIE
11 mins ago
CLEVELAND (AP) — A federal judge in Cleveland awarded $650 million in damages Wednesday to two Ohio counties that won a landmark lawsuit against national pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, claiming the way they distributed opioids to customers caused severe harm to communities and created a public nuisance.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster said in the ruling that the money will be used to abate a continuing opioid crisis in Lake and Trumbull counties, outside Cleveland. Attorneys for the counties put the total price tag at $3 billion for the damage done to the counties.
Lake County is to receive $306 million over 15 years. Trumbull County is to receive $344 million over the same period. Polster ordered the companies to immediately pay nearly $87 million to cover the first two years of the abatement plan.
In his ruling, Polster admonished the three companies, saying they “squandered the opportunity to present a meaningful plan to abate the nuisance" after a trial that considered what damages they might owe.
CVS, Walmart and Walgreens said they will appeal the ruling.
Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda praised the award in a statement, saying “the harms caused by this devastating epidemic" can now be addressed.
Lake County Commissioner John Hamercheck said in a statement “Today marks the start of a new day in our fight to end the opioid epidemic.”
A jury returned a verdict in November in favor of the counties after a six-week trial. It was then left to Polster to decide how much the counties should receive from the three pharmacy companies. He heard testimony in May to determine damages.
The counties convinced the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication into their communities.
It was the first time pharmacy companies completed a trial to defend themselves in a drug crisis that has killed a half-million Americans since 1999.
Attorneys for the pharmacy chains maintained they had policies to stem the flow of pills when their pharmacists had concerns and would notify authorities about suspicious orders from doctors. They also said it was doctors who controlled how many pills were prescribed for legitimate medical needs not their pharmacies.
Walmart issued a statement Wednesday saying the counties’ attorneys “sued Walmart in search of deep pockets, and this judgment follows a trial that was engineered to favor the plaintiffs’ attorneys and was riddled with remarkable legal and factual mistakes.”
Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman said "The facts and the law did not support the jury verdict last fall, and they do not support the court’s decision now.
“The court committed significant legal errors in allowing the case to go before a jury on a flawed legal theory that is inconsistent with Ohio law and compounded those errors in reaching its ruling regarding damages.”
CVS spokesperson Michael DeAngelis said “We strongly disagree with the Court’s decision regarding the counties’ abatement plan, as well as last fall’s underlying verdict.”
CVS is based in Rhode Island, Walgreens in Illinois and Walmart in Arkansas.
Two chains — Rite Aid and Giant Eagle — settled lawsuits with the counties before trial. The amounts they paid have not been disclosed publicly.
Mark Lanier, an attorney for the counties, said during trial that the pharmacies were attempting to blame everyone but themselves.
The opioid crisis has overwhelmed courts, social services agencies and law enforcement in Ohio’s blue-collar corner east of Cleveland, leaving behind heartbroken families and babies born to addicted mothers, Lanier told jurors.
Roughly 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone between 2012 and 2016 — equivalent to 400 for every resident. In Lake County, some 61 million pills were distributed during that period.
The rise in physicians prescribing pain medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone came as medical groups began recognizing that patients have the right to be treated for pain, Kaspar Stoffelmayr, an attorney for Walgreens, said at the opening of the trial.
The problem, he said, was “pharmaceutical manufacturers tricked doctors into writing way too many pills.”
The counties said pharmacies should be the last line of defense to prevent the pills from getting into the wrong hands.
The trial before Polster was part of a broader constellation of about 3,000 federal opioid lawsuits consolidated under the his supervision. Other cases are moving ahead in state courts.
Kevin Roy, chief public policy officer at Shatterproof, an organization that advocates for solutions to addiction, said in November the verdict could lead pharmacies to follow the path of major distribution companies and some drugmakers that have reached nationwide settlements of opioid cases worth billions. So far, no pharmacy has reached a nationwide settlement.
Also on Wednesday, attorneys general from numerous states announced they had reached an agreement with Endo International plc to pay as much as $450 million over 10 years to settle allegations the company used deceptive marketing practices “that downplayed the risk of addiction and overstated the benefits” of opioids it produced.
Based in Ireland, Endo’s U.S. headquarters are in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The company did not respond Wednesday to telephone and email requests for comment.
The agreement calls for the $450 million to be divided between participating states and communities. It also calls for Endo to put opioid-related documents online for public viewing and pay $2.75 million in expenses to publicly archive those documents.
Endo can never again market opioids, according to the agreement.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday night.
Endo produces generic opioids and name brands such as Percocet and Endocet. The company’s Opana ER opioid was withdrawn from the market in 2017. The attorneys general say Endo “falsely promoted the benefits” of Opana ER’s “so-called abuse deterrent formulation.” The attorneys general said the formulation did not deter abuse of the drug and led to deadly outbreaks of hepatitis and HIV resulting from people injecting the drug.
___
This story has been corrected to show that Trumbull County was awarded $344 million, not $444 million.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Judge: Pharmacies owe 2 Ohio counties $650M in opioids suit
By MARK GILLISPIE
11 mins ago
CLEVELAND (AP) — A federal judge in Cleveland awarded $650 million in damages Wednesday to two Ohio counties that won a landmark lawsuit against national pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, claiming the way they distributed opioids to customers caused severe harm to communities and created a public nuisance.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster said in the ruling that the money will be used to abate a continuing opioid crisis in Lake and Trumbull counties, outside Cleveland. Attorneys for the counties put the total price tag at $3 billion for the damage done to the counties.
Lake County is to receive $306 million over 15 years. Trumbull County is to receive $344 million over the same period. Polster ordered the companies to immediately pay nearly $87 million to cover the first two years of the abatement plan.
In his ruling, Polster admonished the three companies, saying they “squandered the opportunity to present a meaningful plan to abate the nuisance" after a trial that considered what damages they might owe.
CVS, Walmart and Walgreens said they will appeal the ruling.
Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda praised the award in a statement, saying “the harms caused by this devastating epidemic" can now be addressed.
Lake County Commissioner John Hamercheck said in a statement “Today marks the start of a new day in our fight to end the opioid epidemic.”
A jury returned a verdict in November in favor of the counties after a six-week trial. It was then left to Polster to decide how much the counties should receive from the three pharmacy companies. He heard testimony in May to determine damages.
The counties convinced the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication into their communities.
It was the first time pharmacy companies completed a trial to defend themselves in a drug crisis that has killed a half-million Americans since 1999.
Attorneys for the pharmacy chains maintained they had policies to stem the flow of pills when their pharmacists had concerns and would notify authorities about suspicious orders from doctors. They also said it was doctors who controlled how many pills were prescribed for legitimate medical needs not their pharmacies.
Walmart issued a statement Wednesday saying the counties’ attorneys “sued Walmart in search of deep pockets, and this judgment follows a trial that was engineered to favor the plaintiffs’ attorneys and was riddled with remarkable legal and factual mistakes.”
Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman said "The facts and the law did not support the jury verdict last fall, and they do not support the court’s decision now.
“The court committed significant legal errors in allowing the case to go before a jury on a flawed legal theory that is inconsistent with Ohio law and compounded those errors in reaching its ruling regarding damages.”
CVS spokesperson Michael DeAngelis said “We strongly disagree with the Court’s decision regarding the counties’ abatement plan, as well as last fall’s underlying verdict.”
CVS is based in Rhode Island, Walgreens in Illinois and Walmart in Arkansas.
Two chains — Rite Aid and Giant Eagle — settled lawsuits with the counties before trial. The amounts they paid have not been disclosed publicly.
Mark Lanier, an attorney for the counties, said during trial that the pharmacies were attempting to blame everyone but themselves.
The opioid crisis has overwhelmed courts, social services agencies and law enforcement in Ohio’s blue-collar corner east of Cleveland, leaving behind heartbroken families and babies born to addicted mothers, Lanier told jurors.
Roughly 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone between 2012 and 2016 — equivalent to 400 for every resident. In Lake County, some 61 million pills were distributed during that period.
The rise in physicians prescribing pain medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone came as medical groups began recognizing that patients have the right to be treated for pain, Kaspar Stoffelmayr, an attorney for Walgreens, said at the opening of the trial.
The problem, he said, was “pharmaceutical manufacturers tricked doctors into writing way too many pills.”
The counties said pharmacies should be the last line of defense to prevent the pills from getting into the wrong hands.
The trial before Polster was part of a broader constellation of about 3,000 federal opioid lawsuits consolidated under the his supervision. Other cases are moving ahead in state courts.
Kevin Roy, chief public policy officer at Shatterproof, an organization that advocates for solutions to addiction, said in November the verdict could lead pharmacies to follow the path of major distribution companies and some drugmakers that have reached nationwide settlements of opioid cases worth billions. So far, no pharmacy has reached a nationwide settlement.
Also on Wednesday, attorneys general from numerous states announced they had reached an agreement with Endo International plc to pay as much as $450 million over 10 years to settle allegations the company used deceptive marketing practices “that downplayed the risk of addiction and overstated the benefits” of opioids it produced.
Based in Ireland, Endo’s U.S. headquarters are in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The company did not respond Wednesday to telephone and email requests for comment.
The agreement calls for the $450 million to be divided between participating states and communities. It also calls for Endo to put opioid-related documents online for public viewing and pay $2.75 million in expenses to publicly archive those documents.
Endo can never again market opioids, according to the agreement.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday night.
Endo produces generic opioids and name brands such as Percocet and Endocet. The company’s Opana ER opioid was withdrawn from the market in 2017. The attorneys general say Endo “falsely promoted the benefits” of Opana ER’s “so-called abuse deterrent formulation.” The attorneys general said the formulation did not deter abuse of the drug and led to deadly outbreaks of hepatitis and HIV resulting from people injecting the drug.
___
This story has been corrected to show that Trumbull County was awarded $344 million, not $444 million.
I don't get how the pharmacies get nailed for this? The doctors write the scripts, that is where it starts. It's like suing the car dealership for selling the car that the company made. They are a middle man...
I see a lot more counties and states doing this. I don't get how it broke any laws or was negligent without hindsight?
Comments
Drugs have passed me by...
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
its like heroin thats on steroids x10
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
2013 Wrigley 2014 St. Paul 2016 Fenway, Fenway, Wrigley, Wrigley 2018 Missoula, Wrigley, Wrigley 2021 Asbury Park 2022 St Louis 2023 Austin, Austin
To use it at your discretion, willy-nilly? Just seems stupid to me.
Then again, I’m more aware of my mortality now — and the consequences of my life choices — than I was in my teens or even early 20s.
Synthetic fentanyl is shipped here in droves from Mexico and China from production plants where it's made stupid cheap and is nearly untraceable.
A federal judge rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement of thousands of lawsuits over the opioid epidemic Thursday because of a provision that would protect members of the Sackler family from facing litigation of their own.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in New York found that federal bankruptcy law does not give the bankruptcy judge who had accepted the plan the authority to grant that kind of release for people who are not declaring bankruptcy themselves.
In a statement Thursday night, the company said that it would appeal the ruling and at the same time try to forge another plan that its creditors will agree to.
Purdue said the ruling will not hurt the company's operations, but it will make it harder for company and Sackler money to be used to fight the opioid crisis as the legal fight continues.
"It will delay, and perhaps end, the ability of creditors, communities, and individuals to receive billions in value to abate the opioid crisis,” said Steve Miller, chairman of the Purdue board of directors. “These funds are needed now more than ever as overdose rates hit record-highs, and we are confident that we can successfully appeal this decision and deliver desperately needed funds to the communities and individuals suffering in the midst of this crisis.”
Representatives of the two branches of the family who own the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for the descendants of Mortimer Sackler, one of the late brothers who owned the company, had no comment.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who was among a handful of state officials seeking to have the deal undone, called the ruling “a seismic victory for justice and accountability.” Tong said the ruling will “re-open the deeply flawed Purdue bankruptcy and force the Sackler family to confront the pain and devastation they have caused.”
Purdue sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 as it faced thousands of lawsuits claiming the company pushed doctors to prescribe OxyContin, helping spark an opioid crisis that has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the last two decades.
Through the bankruptcy court, it worked out a deal with its creditors. Members of the Sackler family would give up ownership of the company, which would transform into a different kind of entity that would still sell opioids — but with profits being used to fight the crisis. It would also develop new anti-addiction and anti-overdose drugs and provide them at little or no cost.
Sackler family members also would contribute $4.5 billion in cash and charitable assets as part of an overall deal that could be worth $10 billion, including the value of the new drugs, if they're brought to market.
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Government entities and businesses agreed to use any money they receive fighting the opioid epidemic. The deal also calls for millions of company documents, including communications with lawyers, to be made public.
In return, members of the wealthy family would get protection from lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis — both the 860 already filed and any others in the future.
Most state and local governments, Native American tribes, individual opioid victims and others who voted said the plan worked out in the bankruptcy court should be accepted.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, like several others, sued Sackler family members and opposed the settlement before eventually agreeing to it this year. She said in a statement that if the deal doesn’t hold up, she’s ready to resume the civil lawsuit: “Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family remain named defendants in our ongoing litigation and we will hold them accountable for their unlawful behavior, one way or another.”
The U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee's office, eight state attorneys general and some other entities have been fighting the deal. They argue that it does not properly hold members of the Sackler family accountable and that it usurps states' ability to try to do so.
A bankruptcy court judge approved the plan over the objections in September. But the opponents appealed to McMahon's court.
The main issue on the appeal was the lawfulness of the measures that would extend legal protections to family members.
Such “third-party releases” are not used in most bankruptcy cases, but they are common in cases such as Purdue's, in which the companies involved are burdened with lawsuits and have relatively little value — but their wealthy owners could contribute.
The Purdue deal would not protect family members from any criminal charges. But so far none have been filed, and there are no signs that any are forthcoming, though some activists are calling for charges.
In a hearing, McMahon focused in on how Sackler family members transferred $10.4 billion from the privately held Stamford, Connecticut-based company over the decade before the bankruptcy. McMahon wanted to know whether the money was moved in part to ensure a role for the Sacklers in bankruptcy negotiations.
But in her ruling Thursday, McMahon did not dig deeply into those transfers or the idea of holding Sackler family members accountable for the opioid crisis. Instead, she focused on whether the bankruptcy law even allows for the kind of deal the company and its creditors struck if there are objections to it.
“The great unsettled question in this case is whether the Bankruptcy Court – or any court – is statutorily authorized to grant such releases. This issue has split the federal Circuits for decades,” she wrote.
She also noted that other courts will weigh in on the case. The next step is likely before the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
“This opinion will not be the last word on the subject, nor should it be," she wrote. “This issue has hovered over bankruptcy law for thirty-five years.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
it was also very eye opening on how Perdue Pharma contributed to this problem. I knew they had sales reps and tried to sell Oxy, but the extent that they lied and broke laws was incredible. They way they had the FDA in their pocket was disgusting. And that no one was really held liable. 3 execs faced charges, but no jail time. The Sackler family and anyone in charge of the company should have been charged with 500,000 cases of unintentional manslaughter.
Coronavirus pandemic Colleen McMahon Lawsuits Epidemics Opioids
A federal judge's decision to reject a multibillion dollar opioid settlement involving OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is being hailed as a step toward justice by advocates who have long called for greater accountability for the family that owns the company.
But not everyone involved in the arduous settlement process is celebrating, including some advocates who have lost loved ones to the nation's ongoing — and growing — addiction crisis. The ruling Thursday from New York-based U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon is a blow to those who sought to use billions of dollars from Purdue and from the Sackler family members involved with the company to fight the epidemic.
“It could be dragged out for months, if not years,” said Cheryl Juaire of Massachusetts, who has lost two grown sons to opioid overdoses.
Juaire founded an organization for grieving parents and was a voice for victims on a committee during the Purdue bankruptcy proceedings that led to the settlement vacated this week.
“Every day, 265 people are dying. The attorneys are getting richer because they’ve still got a job to do, and lives are being lost,” she said. "When is somebody going to say, ‘This is all about the lives?’”
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Avi Israel also lost a son to opioid addiction, but sees this week's ruling differently. Like Juaire, he has dedicated his life to fighting addiction, starting Save the Michaels of the World, a group that has helped get 1,200 people in western New York into addiction treatment this year.
He said Thursday's decision was the right one.
“You could give me all the money in the world; that’s not going to bring my son back,” said Israel, who also sits on a state board that helps distribute money New York brings in from opioid litigation.
Allowing lawsuits to move forward against Sackler family members could have a more long-lasting effect by deterring corporate executives from pushing medications they know could cause harm.
“I want them to know what it feels like for millions of us in this holiday season, when you sit at the table and you stare at an empty chair and you know that all of that could have been avoided," he said.
The contrasting views of justice in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy reflect a complicated case at the center of multiple lawsuits seeking to hold players in the drug industry accountable for the nationwide epidemic of addiction and overdoses. Combined, prescription and illicit versions of the drugs have been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades, and it's gotten worse during the coronavirus pandemic. Federal officials say there were 100,000 overdose deaths in the 12 months that ended in April, the majority of them from opioids.
The Purdue case is the highest-profile, but it's not the largest opioid settlement in the works. The drug distribution companies AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson, plus drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, have agreed to a settlement worth $26 billion over time. The deal relies on having a critical mass of local governments surrender their right to sue and sign on.
Facing thousands of lawsuits from state and local governments, unions, hospitals and others, Purdue filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 as part of an effort to settle the cases. After negotiations and mediation, it reached a deal supported by the overwhelming majority of state and local governments, as well as individuals with claims who voted on it.
The plan calls for Sackler family members to give up ownership of Purdue. The transformed company would continue to make OxyContin, but with profits going to fight the opioid crisis. It also would try to develop low- or no-cost drugs to reverse overdoses and treat addictions. Sackler family members would contribute $4.5 billion over time in cash and charitable assets.
Most of the money would flow to government entities, which would be obligated to use it to fight the crisis and not just to fill their budgets.
“The most important thing to me is that in the plan, every single penny has to be used for the epidemic,” Juaire said.
Because of the advocacy of Juaire and other representatives of victims, a portion of the settlement — $750 million — would go to individual victims and their families. Payments were expected to range from $3,500 to $48,000. That set the Purdue deal apart from other large opioid settlements, where money for individual victims is not included.
But the deal came with one catch that angered many advocates, state attorneys general and others: The Sacklers would be protected from all current and future civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids.
Under a 2020 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the company pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a deal that would waive most of their $8.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures as long as it entered a settlement that would use money to fight the opioid crisis. Members of the Sackler family agreed separately to pay $225 million to settle federal civil claims. There are no indications that criminal charges could emerge against family members, though some activists are pressing officials to file them.
Eight states and the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee, a part of the Department of Justice, objected to the bankruptcy settlement and appealed after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge accepted the deal in September.
Their arguments swayed Judge McMahon. In her ruling, she said bankruptcy law does not give judges the power to accept deals that protect people who are not themselves filing for bankruptcy protection if some parties in the case don't agree.
The decision “puts a fine point on the idea that there cannot be two systems of justice in this country,” one for the wealthy and one for everyone else," Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in an interview Friday.
Purdue said it would appeal but that it also would keep trying to find a settlement all parties would accept.
McMahon anticipated an appeal in her ruling: “This opinion will not be the last word on the subject, nor should it be.” She said the issue of third-party releases has hovered over bankruptcy law for decades, with federal circuit courts disagreeing about whether they can be granted.
The appeal will go to the New York-based U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. It's expected that whichever side loses will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.
Congress also has considered legislation that would prohibit the kind of protections granted to Sackler family members, but the bill has stalled.
Representatives of the Sackler family have said in court, depositions and congressional hearings that they have not done anything improper and are not responsible for the opioid epidemic. They have not commented on Thursday's ruling.
The Department of Justice, under different leadership than it was 13 months ago when Purdue pleaded guilty, praised McMahon's decision.
“The bankruptcy court did not have the authority to deprive victims of the opioid crisis of their right to sue the Sackler family," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
___
Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I do not think it will happen though. One of the courts will upheld their appeal.
Even though one judge rejected OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's sweeping settlement of thousands of lawsuits over the opioid crisis, another refused Wednesday to allow litigation to move ahead just yet against members of the Sackler family who own the company — but also ordered negotiations for a reworked settlement.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain on Wednesday granted Purdue's request to extend an injunction until Feb. 1 protecting the company and the Sacklers from litigation. He also ordered Purdue, the Sacklers, the states and other parties to negotiate a new settlement.
In a hearing conducted Wednesday via video conference, the White Plains, New York-based judge warned the family and others that he would end the protections early if there are not serious talks toward a new settlement. “If the parties do not negotiate in good faith,” he said, “they will face the consequences of the injunction unraveling.”
Drain is the same judge who approved the company's settlement in September.
The deal had been hashed out over two years of negotiations and mediation in bankruptcy court. Eventually, lawyers for the overwhelming majority of local governments and states signed on. The plan called for members of the Sackler family to give up ownership of Purdue, which would be transformed into a new company whose profits would be used to fight the opioid crisis.
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Sackler family members would also contribute $4.5 billion in cash and charitable assets, with the money to go to victims of the crisis and efforts to end the crisis, which has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000, counting overdoses of both prescription opioids and illicit ones, such as heroin and illegally produced fentanyl.
In exchange for the contributions, Sackler family members were also granted protections from lawsuits over opioids.
But eight states and one office in the U.S. Department of Justice objected. They said it was improper for them to be forced to give up their right to sue members of the Sackler family, who themselves were not seeking bankruptcy protection. The holdout states argued that the $4.5 billion does not properly hold the family members accountable.
In December, U.S District Judge Colleen McMahon ruled in favor of those states, finding that judges do not have authority to grant third-party releases as Drain did.
Purdue said it would appeal that ruling while also trying again to strike a settlement deal that all the states would be willing to join. The Stamford, Connecticut-based company also asked Drain to protect it and the family from lawsuits while that's sorted out. A injunction previously in place was to expire Thursday.
Two states — Connecticut and Washington — argued that suits against the Sacklers should be allowed to move ahead immediately. Those states said they would not move ahead now with litigation against the company.
Irve Goldman, a lawyer for Connecticut, said in court Wednesday that their suits against the Sacklers won’t be resumed immediately if the family members are in good-faith settlement negotiations. He also said that the Sacklers have not been in such talks so far since the settlement was dissolved on Dec. 16.
Lawyers for Sackler family did not speak at Wednesday’s hearing. Representatives of the family did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.
Connecticut and Washington said in a filing that the Sacklers would agree to an appropriate settlement only if lawsuits can move ahead and they “are then forced to come to grips with the prospect of continued litigation against them.”
But Benjamin Kaminetzky, a lawyer for Purdue, told Drain in court that the opposite was true. “If the stay is lifted, everyone will be scrambling to get their claims on file as quickly as possible,” he said. “In this environment, negotiations would be an afterthought at best, likely a no-thought.”
Still, he said that if the Sackler family does not negotiate in January, Purdue would not seek further injunctions to protect the family from lawsuits.
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those people are long out of government.
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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good luck with that
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
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There are no kings inside the gates of eden
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Sarah Kelly recalls the fleeting moments when she reached out for help during a decadeslong opioid addiction, only to find out no residential treatment beds were available in an overloaded system in her corner of West Virginia.
In the hardest-hit county in the nation's worst-hit state for drug overdose deaths per capita, Kelly’s struggles with prescription pain pills cost her custody of her two children. Her younger sister died of a heart infection from intravenous drug use in 2017.
Somehow, the Huntington resident wouldn't let her addiction win.
“I was so tired of living without them,” Kelly said. “I couldn’t live without them anymore.”
Six months have passed since closing arguments were held in the first lawsuit over the U.S. addiction epidemic to go to trial. It blames three pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis in the Huntington area. For Kelly and others who know the desperation that comes with addiction, the time it's taken to render a verdict seems out of step with the urgency they feel.
Kelly eventually found treatment and went to court to get her kids back. She's been in recovery since October 2019. But that nightmare of being unable to locate a bed right away comes rushing back as a decision looms in the lawsuit.
continues.....
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/02/25/opioid-settlement-final/
By Meryl Kornfield
February 25 at 8:38 AM EST
Three major drug distributors and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson finalized a $26 billion agreement on Friday to bring relief to states and communities affected by the opioid epidemic, in what lawyers say is a turning point in the deadly public health crisis.
The companies’ announcement, a formal declaration that the firms will go through with a previously reported deal, kick-starts a 60-day countdown to the date the deal is considered effective, the beginning of the release of funds — money that local leaders across the country have started determining how to spend. After an unprecedented effort to achieve close to a national consensus for the deal, a vast majority of communities have agreed to take part, launching new measures to tackle opioid abuse, including new transparency into drug shipments.
The distributors, Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, said in a joint statement Friday that 46 out of 49 eligible states have joined their settlement, which was “sufficient participation” to proceed. Johnson & Johnson, which has committed as much as $5 billion in the settlement, also confirmed it would move forward with the agreement.
Lawyers representing the communities in the massive web of federal litigation over the opioid epidemic say governments covering about 90 percent of the U.S. population have signed on to the deal, agreeing to drop legal claims against the companies in exchange for the funds. Separately, Native American tribes reached an agreement this month with the companies for a $665 million cut of the national sum.
“It’s huge,” said Joe Rice, a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs suing drug companies. “I think it’s the beginning of turning the curve against the opioid epidemic in small-town America. Looking back, I can’t think of any other situation where national litigation has put the money directly in the hands of small-town America. And they deserve it. They’re the ones that are fighting this battle.”
[The opioid files]
Rice and other lawyers, including states’ attorneys general, have spent months explaining the framework of the settlement to local officials to coordinate the sweeping agreement, which could have failed if a critical mass was not achieved. Those who question the agreement with the companies raise concerns that the money is insufficient to cover the total cost of the drug epidemic and could be misused, as were the payouts from a 1998 settlement with major tobacco companies.
Thousands of communities have claimed in courts that distributors ignoring red flags and manufacturers falsely advertising their drugs’ nonaddictive potential flooded their area with pain pills, leading to widespread addiction and overdoses that have continued to strain their health-care systems and social services. The companies do not admit wrongdoing.
“They say, ‘It’s just not enough money to solve the problem,’ ” Rice said, describing those conversations with local leaders. “And I say, ‘You’re right. It’s not.’ But we’re never going to solve the problem with money alone.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
A virtual hearing Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court gave survivors of opioid addiction and people who lost loved ones to the crisis what they have long desired — the chance to confront members of the family behind OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma. They blamed the Sackler family members for helping fuel the epidemic through marketing of Purdue's signature painkiller OxyContin and for failing to take responsibility for their role.
Three Sackler family members attended the hearing: Richard, Theresa and David Sackler. Under court rules, they could not respond and had to sit silently while roughly two dozen people gave emotional statements.
Richard Sackler appeared only via audio; he is the former Purdue president and board chair who has said the company and family bear no responsibility for the opioid crisis. He also is a son of Raymond Sackler, one of the three brothers who in the 1950s bought the company that became Purdue Pharma. Theresa Sackler is a British dame and wife of the late Mortimer D. Sackler, another of the brothers, while David Sackler is Richard Sackler’s son. Both appeared on video.
What some of the victims, selected by lawyers for creditors in the case, said when they finally got the chance to speak directly to the Sacklers:
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‘SCUM OF THE EARTH’
Kristy Nelson played a tape of her 911 call reporting that her son was unresponsive. Later this month, she and her husband will go to the cemetery to mark what would have been Bryan's 34th birthday and pointed out that Richard Sackler turned 77 on Thursday: “I understand today’s your birthday, Richard. How will you be celebrating? I guarantee it won’t be in the cemetery. ... You have truly benefitted from the death of children. You are scum of the earth.”
Her husband, Bill, a judge in Indianapolis, added: “I seriously doubt that anything any of us say today to these people will have any effect whatsoever. When we are done, David and Theresa will do whatever billionaires and dames do. Richard will hang up his phone and go do whatever greedy billionaire cowards do on their birthdays.”
___
A BROKEN MAN
Vitaly Pinkusov lost his wife to an overdose when she was 32 and held up a photo of her: “Please understand that I stand here before you as a broken man. ... I’m broken, so please look at me. You can look me in the eyes, or you can avoid looking at me. ... I’m the face of the opioid epidemic. ... How do I feel about you? ... The closest feeling is the feeling of pure contempt. I do not forgive you. ... You are not condemned to death. You are condemned to eternal infamy without the possibility of release.”
___
‘YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID’
Ryan Hampton, who became addicted after being prescribed OxyContin for a knee injury, addressed Richard Sackler: “You know what you did. I hope that every single victim’s face haunts your every waking moment and your sleeping ones, too. I hope you hear our names in your dreams. … I hope you hear the sirens. I hope you hear the heart monitor as it beats along with failing pulse. ... You poisoned our lives and had the audacity to blame us for dying. ... Richard Sackler, you are the abuser, you are the criminal, and you are the culprit."
___
KEEPING GRANDPA SAFE
Wendy Olsen told how her father, a retired pediatrician and Army officer, became addicted after a hospital stay in his 80s, decades after turning back a Purdue sales representative who suggested he should prescribe OxyContin. “The colonel barked out his orders demanding OxyContin,” she said of when he returned home. “When we refused, he went into shaky, pukey withdrawal.” Since then, it’s been a struggle to keep him safe. Olsen’s son, Danny, said he now sleeps on the sofa “with one eye open to intercept Grandpa” before he harms himself. “No amount of money can shield your conscience from the pain you’ve caused – not relieved, but caused,” he said.
___
AN EMPTY MOTHER'S DAY
Kim Blake, a Vermont doctor who lost her son to an overdose after he was released from prison, where he could not get medication to treat his addiction: “I couldn’t face another Mother’s Day without him. I have never taken your drug, but it has nearly cost me my life.”
___
THE COST OF ADDICTION
Kathy Strain, a Pennsylvania mother caring for children with addiction, said medication to treat it was expensive. She said she worked 16-hour overnight shifts as often as possible so she could keep days free to ferry her children to treatment: “Costs were so high that sometimes we had to purchase medication daily, and some days I had to choose which of my children I could help, based on my best guess of which one was most likely to make it through that day. Can you, Richard, imagine how to make that decision? You will never have the slightest clue of what that meant to me.”
___
ARTIST'S LIVELIHOOD LOST
Nan Goldin described how she rapidly became addicted to OxyContin after a prescription following wrist surgery. Her career as an artist fell apart, she didn’t leave her room for three years, and she overdosed in 2017 and spent months in a clinic. “It’s nice to finally see the Sacklers face to face,” she said. She called for federal criminal charges against the Sacklers and said their recent statement of responsibility, in which they expressed regret for the toll of OxyContin but did not explicitly apologize, was “insulting to all of us who’ve been damaged by them.”
___
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?
Cheryl Juaire, a Massachusetts woman who lost two sons to opioid overdoses: “How much money is enough? Really, truly, how much is enough? If your family had any remorse at all, you could have changed the trajectory by taking your money back in 2007 and used it to abate this crisis.”
___
EMPATHY OVER MONEY
Stephanie Lubinski, whose addicted husband took his own life in their home in 2020: “Richard, David and Theresa, you have made an insane amount of money off of our family, more than you could ever spend,” she said, noting that she is grappling with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. “Can’t you all feel one bit of empathy for the victims, the devastation that your drug has caused?”
___
MERCY ON YOUR SOULS
“I am no longer the woman I once was. You have cheated my children from the mother I once was, you have cheated my husband from the wife I once was,” said Jill Cichowicz, whose twin brother, Scott, died of a fentanyl overdose in 2017. “However, I can still look in the mirror and know that I am a good person. ... May God have mercy on all your souls, because no one in this room will.”
___
ANGRY BUT MOVING FORWARD
Jannette Adams' husband, Dr. Thomas Adams, died in 2015 after becoming addicted to opioids following pitches by pharmaceutical company representatives: “I’m angry, I’m pissed, but I move on. Because our society lost a person who could have made so many more contributions. ... You took so much from us, but we plan to, through our faith in God, move forward."
___
ADDICTED AND PREGNANT
Kara Trainor, who is in recovery, gave birth to her son while on methadone to treat her addiction: “If you’ve ever heard a newborn in withdrawal, the screaming will haunt you for the rest of your life."
___
DESPICABLE
Shelly Whitaker is the mother of three children born dependent on opioids that were prescribed to her for medical conditions: “You are despicable. Your greed has affected my children for the rest of their lives,” she said “I do take full responsibility for what I did.” She said she wished the Sacklers would do likewise.
___
‘PAY A LITTLE MONEY’
Randi Pollock's brother became addicted to OxyContin that was prescribed for nerve pain: “If you could at least take responsibility and apologize and pay a little money to people who have dead people in their family, because they don’t have the opportunity to go to rehab, I just think that would make a big difference and it doesn’t take too much effort on your part.”
___
'I'M OUTRAGED'
“When you created OxyContin, you created so much loss for so many people," said Kay Scarpone, who lost her son Joseph. "I’m outraged that you haven’t owned up to the crisis that you’ve created.”
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you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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In 2014 Goldin was prescribed [OxyContin] for the tendonitis she was suffering from in her left wrist. In spite of taking the pills exactly as the doctor prescribed, she quickly became hooked. “The first time I got a ‘script it was 40 milligrams and it was too strong for me; they made me nauseated and dulled. By the end, I was on 450 milligrams a day. Eventually I was crushing and snorting them.” When doctors refused to supply her any more, she turned to the black market, and to cheaper hard street drugs whenever she ran out of money.
Emerging from rehab again in 2018, she began reading up on OxyContin and its active ingredient oxycodone, a chemical cousin of heroin, and twice as powerful as morphine. What she learned was that OxyContin was manufactured by Purdue Pharma, a company owned by one of the world’s leading cultural and academic philanthropists—the Sacklers.
Purdue played a “special role” in the country’s opioid crisis, according to a New Yorker deep dive on the Sackler family, which notes the company “was the first to set out, in the 1990s, to persuade the American medical establishment that strong opioids should be much more widely prescribed—and that physicians’ longstanding fears about the addictive nature of such drugs were overblown.”
According to The U.S. Department of Justice in a 2020 hearing before the Committee of Oversight and Reform at the House of Representatives, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family spent decades “misleading the DEA, defrauding the United States, paying kickbacks to companies that would steer patients on to OxyContin, and exacerbating the opioid epidemic. All the while, the Sackler family profited immensely from the deaths of millions of Americans.”
Making the link between her own addiction to OxyContin and the ongoing opioid crisis, Goldin founded Prescription Addiction Intervention Now, or PAIN, with the initial goal of highlighting the full extent of art institutions’ financial collusion with the Sackler family—and thus their complicity in a public health crisis that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths nationwide since 1999.
“I picked this fight because I was an opioid addict myself,” she says.
Modeling PAIN on ACT UP, a group of grassroots activists that, in 1987, united in anger and committed dramatic acts of civil disobedience to address the AIDS crisis, media-savvy Goldin organized actions against art institutions with protests dramatic enough to capture public attention. The goal was to put an end to ‘toxic’ philanthropy.
On March 10, 2018 Goldin and a group of about 100 demonstrators marched into the Sackler Wing’s Temple of Dendur at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, scattering pill bottles into the moat with mock labels such as “Side Effect: Death,” and “Prescribed to you by the Sackler family.” “It was about a thousand bottles bobbing in the water,” as Goldin describes it.
Next came the ‘die-ins.’
Storming New York’s Guggenheim Museum, Goldin and her group lay down on their backsamidst a sea of fake opioid prescriptions, chanting slogans like: “Sacklers lie; people die! People, not profit!”
The activism was effective: A month after the ‘die-in’ the Guggenheim announced it would no longer accept Sackler contributions. And, in 2019 the Metropolitan Museum of Art went one step further, they removed the Sackler name from seven exhibition spaces, including the wing that houses the iconic Temple of Dendur.
Soon after, the Louvre in Paris removed the Sackler name, as did the Serpentine North Gallery (once called the Serpentine Sackler Gallery) in London.
At London’s National Portrait Gallery, Goldin threatened to boycott a potential retrospective if they accepted the $1.3 million dollar donation that the family had been offering. Of course, the gallery turned down the funds, marking another victory in PAIN’s fight over the ethics of art funding.
It seems natural to draw a straight line between Goldin’s activism and her art. “I was actively involved with the AIDS crisis and my work was alway credited with being political on a personal level,” says Goldin. “Artists, in this day and age, can’t stay silent. They have to find a cause, they have to find their fight.”
CLEVELAND (AP) — A federal judge in Cleveland awarded $650 million in damages Wednesday to two Ohio counties that won a landmark lawsuit against national pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, claiming the way they distributed opioids to customers caused severe harm to communities and created a public nuisance.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster said in the ruling that the money will be used to abate a continuing opioid crisis in Lake and Trumbull counties, outside Cleveland. Attorneys for the counties put the total price tag at $3 billion for the damage done to the counties.
Lake County is to receive $306 million over 15 years. Trumbull County is to receive $344 million over the same period. Polster ordered the companies to immediately pay nearly $87 million to cover the first two years of the abatement plan.
In his ruling, Polster admonished the three companies, saying they “squandered the opportunity to present a meaningful plan to abate the nuisance" after a trial that considered what damages they might owe.
CVS, Walmart and Walgreens said they will appeal the ruling.
Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda praised the award in a statement, saying “the harms caused by this devastating epidemic" can now be addressed.
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Lake County Commissioner John Hamercheck said in a statement “Today marks the start of a new day in our fight to end the opioid epidemic.”
A jury returned a verdict in November in favor of the counties after a six-week trial. It was then left to Polster to decide how much the counties should receive from the three pharmacy companies. He heard testimony in May to determine damages.
The counties convinced the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication into their communities.
It was the first time pharmacy companies completed a trial to defend themselves in a drug crisis that has killed a half-million Americans since 1999.
Attorneys for the pharmacy chains maintained they had policies to stem the flow of pills when their pharmacists had concerns and would notify authorities about suspicious orders from doctors. They also said it was doctors who controlled how many pills were prescribed for legitimate medical needs not their pharmacies.
Walmart issued a statement Wednesday saying the counties’ attorneys “sued Walmart in search of deep pockets, and this judgment follows a trial that was engineered to favor the plaintiffs’ attorneys and was riddled with remarkable legal and factual mistakes.”
Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman said "The facts and the law did not support the jury verdict last fall, and they do not support the court’s decision now.
“The court committed significant legal errors in allowing the case to go before a jury on a flawed legal theory that is inconsistent with Ohio law and compounded those errors in reaching its ruling regarding damages.”
CVS spokesperson Michael DeAngelis said “We strongly disagree with the Court’s decision regarding the counties’ abatement plan, as well as last fall’s underlying verdict.”
CVS is based in Rhode Island, Walgreens in Illinois and Walmart in Arkansas.
Two chains — Rite Aid and Giant Eagle — settled lawsuits with the counties before trial. The amounts they paid have not been disclosed publicly.
Mark Lanier, an attorney for the counties, said during trial that the pharmacies were attempting to blame everyone but themselves.
The opioid crisis has overwhelmed courts, social services agencies and law enforcement in Ohio’s blue-collar corner east of Cleveland, leaving behind heartbroken families and babies born to addicted mothers, Lanier told jurors.
Roughly 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone between 2012 and 2016 — equivalent to 400 for every resident. In Lake County, some 61 million pills were distributed during that period.
The rise in physicians prescribing pain medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone came as medical groups began recognizing that patients have the right to be treated for pain, Kaspar Stoffelmayr, an attorney for Walgreens, said at the opening of the trial.
The problem, he said, was “pharmaceutical manufacturers tricked doctors into writing way too many pills.”
The counties said pharmacies should be the last line of defense to prevent the pills from getting into the wrong hands.
The trial before Polster was part of a broader constellation of about 3,000 federal opioid lawsuits consolidated under the his supervision. Other cases are moving ahead in state courts.
Kevin Roy, chief public policy officer at Shatterproof, an organization that advocates for solutions to addiction, said in November the verdict could lead pharmacies to follow the path of major distribution companies and some drugmakers that have reached nationwide settlements of opioid cases worth billions. So far, no pharmacy has reached a nationwide settlement.
Also on Wednesday, attorneys general from numerous states announced they had reached an agreement with Endo International plc to pay as much as $450 million over 10 years to settle allegations the company used deceptive marketing practices “that downplayed the risk of addiction and overstated the benefits” of opioids it produced.
Based in Ireland, Endo’s U.S. headquarters are in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The company did not respond Wednesday to telephone and email requests for comment.
The agreement calls for the $450 million to be divided between participating states and communities. It also calls for Endo to put opioid-related documents online for public viewing and pay $2.75 million in expenses to publicly archive those documents.
Endo can never again market opioids, according to the agreement.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday night.
Endo produces generic opioids and name brands such as Percocet and Endocet. The company’s Opana ER opioid was withdrawn from the market in 2017. The attorneys general say Endo “falsely promoted the benefits” of Opana ER’s “so-called abuse deterrent formulation.” The attorneys general said the formulation did not deter abuse of the drug and led to deadly outbreaks of hepatitis and HIV resulting from people injecting the drug.
___
This story has been corrected to show that Trumbull County was awarded $344 million, not $444 million.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I see a lot more counties and states doing this. I don't get how it broke any laws or was negligent without hindsight?