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Thursday, December 19th, 2019

One of America’s richest families is accused of profiting from the nation’s opioid crisis

Author:     Tony Marco
Source:     CNN
Publication Date:     8:20 AM ET, Tue January 29, 2019
 Link: One of America’s richest families is accused of profiting from the nation’s opioid crisis
Stephan:   According to The New York Times, speaking of the Sackler family, "A new audit finds that the family directed $10.7 billion from the drugmaker to family-controlled trusts and holding companies, as legal pressure tightened around Purdue." That $10 billion is the very definition of "blood money," as demonstrated by the thousands of deaths, and multiples of that in terms of lives destroyed.  Will any of the family be arrested? Go to jail? Don't hold your breath. In a government controlled by oligarchs if you are very rich being held accountable is a rare event.

A court ruling Monday in Massachusetts will expose details about one of America’s richest families and their connection to the nation’s opioid crisis.

The Sacklers and members of their company Purdue Pharma have been named in a lawsuit that accuses them of profiting from the opioid crisis by aggressively marketing OxyContin, claims denied by attorneys for the family and Purdue.
The suit had been heavily redacted, but on Monday, Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders ruled that the unredacted amended complaint must be publicly released by February 1.
In the order, Sanders calls the defense’s protests “hardly compelling” enough to keep the information secret, adding that it is not intensely personal or private.
The redacted pages “appear to be discussions of tactics that could be used to promote the sales of OxyContin (particularly in higher doses), to encourage doctors to prescribe the drug over longer periods of time, and to circumvent safeguards put in place to stop illegal prescriptions,” Sanders says in the court filing.
“For many years, Purdue, its executives, and members […]

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