Another Snow Job from Big Pharma (and the US Justice System)

I’m pissed.

 

If you’re one of the 80-some people so far who’ve read my ‘novellita’ Blood in the Water (on Amazon - https://amzn.to/3liwiEv - or on this blog), you know how I feel about Big Pharma. Particularly Purdue & the Sacklers, and their role in the opioid crisis that’s destroyed so many lives. Lives of friends and family. (Even my own setbacks, which I can’t directly attribute to the reckless and heartless marketing of OxyContin, were certainly at least exacerbated by the devastating dope culture Oxy helped create.)

 

Then, for a brief moment last week—vindication! “Purdue Pharma Pleads Guilty!” read the headlines. “$8.3 Billion in Fines!” Newspapers trumpeted prosecutors’ claims that the settlement would afford vast new resources to fight addiction, and that “past wrongs” are now redressed.

 

Sounds great, right? Maybe a little lopsided, given the $15 billion in Oxy profits the Sacklers made, and the 400,000(!) Americans who lost their lives since 2000, but still… A formidable fine and a strong rebuke from our justice system. Right?

 

Except, as it turns out, no.

 

See, I learned long ago to read past headlines, to delve into the meat and details of a story, before forming my opinions—seems to me, that’s the only way to be an effective consumer of media these days. And when you look into this story, you’ll find that it isn’t a case of ‘Justice Prevails,’ after all. Nope. In fact, it’s just another tale of the rich and powerful escaping the consequences of their actions, and dumping the cleanup duty on the rest of us.

 

The fact is, Purdue already declared bankruptcy—after the Sacklers extracted $13-15 billion out of the firm and moved the bulk of it overseas, out of reach of the U.S. judiciary. The $8.3 billion figure is a mirage, and nobody really expects we’ll see anywhere near that much. What’s left of Purdue—which will be under federal control—is a shell, with shrinking revenues in the couple-hundred-million-dollar range. The $8.3 billion, plus whatever courts award states, would have to come from that. 

 

The $13-15 billion? The Sacklers got away with that, clean.

 

Oh, sure, they will have to pay a personal civil fine—of $225 million. Put another way, 0.017% of their profits.

 

And they’re likely to evade criminal charges entirely, despite the fact that it’s well-established that they knew what they were doing, lying to doctors and patients about Oxy’s addictive potential. Meanwhile, jails and prisons are full of addicts created by Purdue's dirty tricks, and the death toll continues to climb.

 

Add to that, the fact that the majority of the public now believes the Sacklers have paid their dues. Via the imaginary $8.3 billion number…

 

Nope. Once again, the rich and powerful have escaped responsibility for their actions. Escaped with billions.

 

You see why I’m pissed?

 

Back to Blood in the Water, for those of you who’ve read it. (And my sincere thanks to you, by the way. For those too cheap to shell out $1.48, or to subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, I'm posting the second segment free today as well.) When I think about how we've just been lied to--this time, not just by Big Pharma themselves, but by a cadre of media and US Justice officials, working in concert to make America think they've held the Sacklers accountable... Well, I can't help wondering how Spencer would feel about this development. You know? I mean, if I’m pissed, what does his rage at this hypocritical bullshit look like?

 

Perhaps it’s time for a second chapter in Spencer’s story…