'We start treating people less like criminals stop hammering abusers, like Richard Sackler told us to do and start treating these folks as people with a genuine medical condition, which is what they are.In 2002, Samuel has been clean from Ox圜ontin for a while now, but he fears going off the medicine in case he relapses. of unraveling the war on drugs,' Macy said. 'There's so much we need to do, and a lot of it falls right under the umbrella. Many public health experts say that Sackler's narrative directed attention and accountability away from prescribers and pharmaceutical companies and left many with opioid use disorder stigmatized and abandoned. 'Abusers aren't victims,' Sackler wrote in a 2001 email made public as part of lawsuits against Purdue Pharma. Macy, author of the book Dopesick, explained that while Richard Sackler has avoided criminal charges, he famously put the blame for addiction on people with addiction. Meanwhile, millions of Americans with addiction to opioids are working their way through the justice system. Toll-free number for the SAMHSA National Helpline: 1-80.

The addiction treatment industry is rife with scams and low-quality expensive facilities.įor confidential free help from public health agencies and to find substance use disorder treatment and information, use these resources: You should consult your doctors when possible for help with substance use disorder, and proceed cautiously. They have agreed to contribute more than $4.3 billion to an opioid settlement. Department officials fined the company, and Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges.Ī felony guilty plea entered by the drug company in 2020 revealed that much of the illegal activity kept happening long after that first Justice Department deal was signed.Ĭritics say federal regulators were often back on their heels, slow to curb escalating Ox圜ontin sales that fed black markets for pain pills around the United States.Īnd all this while the government was spending huge amounts of money and resources on the war on drugs every year.įor their part, members of the Sackler family maintain they did nothing wrong as they profited more than $11 billion from opioid sales. But this is how corporate accountability works right now - and it appears the Sacklers navigated the system, brilliantly.' Did the American justice system blink?Īs far back as 2007, the Justice Department saw Purdue Pharma marketing Ox圜ontin in some very dangerous and illegal ways. 'Judge Robert Drain said he felt like the family at the center of this opioid crisis should have paid more.

National Ox圜ontin-Maker Purdue Pharma Launched A Stealth Campaign To Sway U.S. And in the real world, it's even less clear if the Sacklers, Purdue Pharma or other players in the pharmaceutical industry may face meaningful consequences for their alleged roles. who feel Purdue Pharma and its product Ox圜ontin bear an enormous responsibility for the devastation caused by this public health crisis, it's powerful storytelling.īased on journalist Beth Macy's 2018 book, Dopesick, the limited series tries to show just how hard it is to hold anyone - an individual or a company - accountable for the opioid crisis. Documents made public in recent years show that Purdue Pharma's effort to 'turbocharge' opioid prescribing continued long after it was clear to people inside the company that addiction and overdose deaths were surging.įor many viewers around the U.S. The series dramatizes Richard Sackler's long-running efforts to boost sales of Ox圜ontin. When the Sacklers and their private company, Purdue Pharma, are introduced on-screen (often seen in their eponymously named museum wings or on one of their opulent estates), they're portrayed as the main villains of the story. National Is 'Dopesick' a true story? Experts and the show's creators sort fact from fiction

Dope sick on hulu