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This article is reproduced from [CGTN Global Information Broadcast];

Recently, Harvard University in the United States rejected the request of some students and relevant parties to remove the name "Sackler" from Harvard University Museum and other campus buildings, which once again aroused people's attention to the problem of drug addiction in the United States.

△ Screenshot of report from the British Guardian website

In fact, similar protests have been going on for years.

In the early 21st century, a drug addiction craze caused by the painkiller OxyContin swept across the country, causing the deaths of up to 500,000 people. The mastermind behind this tragedy was the Sackler family, which has always been known for its "generous charitable donations" and "outstanding medical contributions."

△Data map: On August 9, 2021, during a protest against Purdue Pharma, a company owned by the Sackler family, in New York State, demonstrators placed medicine bottles with the words "OxyContin" written on them. (Photo from the Associated Press)

“They profit from the pain of others”

The Sackler family, a US pharmaceutical giant, is a medical family. Through charitable donations, they have left their names in institutions such as Harvard University in the United States, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and the Louvre in France.

But behind the glamorous appearance, this family used "drug addiction" as a tool to make money. They adopted various means in the drug marketing process, kidnapped scholars and officials through interest transfer, manipulated the market, and triggered the most serious drug abuse crisis in American history.

△ Screenshot of the BBC website report

In 1996, Purdue Pharma, owned by the Sackler family, developed a new painkiller, OxyContin. This new drug is highly addictive, but the Sackler family colluded with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conceal the drug's addictiveness, and made a fortune by promoting and distributing OxyContin on a large scale, accumulating tens of billions of dollars in assets in 20 years. At the same time, OxyContin caused 7 million people to become addicted, 500,000 people to die, and a large number of patients to become depressed and even commit crimes.

△The New Yorker magazine once published an article titled "The Family That Built an Empire of Pain", saying that the Sackler family's ruthless marketing of painkillers produced billions of dollars and millions of addicts.

In 2014, Nan Goldin, a famous American photographer, underwent surgery for a wrist injury. During the treatment, she took the painkiller OxyContin as prescribed by the doctor, which resulted in a serious addiction. In the process of constantly fighting drug addiction, Goldin discovered that it all originated from the pharmaceutical company owned by the Sackler family, the most powerful family in the United States.

In 2018, Nan Goldin gathered many drug addiction victims like her and founded the drug intervention organization "Pain". While helping people suffering from drug addiction to get out of the quagmire, they also organized them to launch a series of protests against museums that have cooperated with the Sackler family.

△ File photo: Nan Goldin organizes a protest against drug addiction. (Photo from The New Yorker)

Speaking of the purpose of doing so, Nan Goldin said in the documentary "All the Beauty and Blood and Tears" released in 2022: "When you know that this is profiting from the pain of others, the only reaction is rage. Those rich people are very panicked, worried that we will dig out their evil ways of making money. But keeping the wrong things secret will ruin many people."

△ Screenshot of the BBC website report

“Billionaires don’t have to pay for the harm they cause”

The efforts of Nan Goldin and other protesters have achieved a certain degree of success, with many universities, museums and art institutions distancing themselves from the Sackler family.

△ Screenshot of the report on the website of the American Flag News Agency

In 2019, the Sackler family was also issued a sky-high fine, forcing Purdue Pharma's headquarters to file for bankruptcy protection.

On October 14, 2020, attorneys general from 25 U.S. states filed a class-action lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, criticizing the company for deliberately deceiving doctors and the public, causing patients to become addicted to drugs and triggering a nationwide opioid crisis.

Purdue Pharma finally reached an $8.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, pleading guilty to three felony charges related to its opioid painkiller OxyContin. The settlement also requires Purdue Pharma to dissolve and transform into a new company that provides addiction and overdose treatment drugs. In addition, the Sackler family, the owner of Purdue Pharma, agreed to pay $225 million in civil liability compensation.

But New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a statement criticizing the settlement between the Justice Department and Purdue Pharma, saying, "The agreement does not address the reality of the hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of addictions caused by Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. Instead, the settlement allows billionaires to keep their billions of dollars in assets without paying for the actual harm they caused."

△ Screenshot of the report from the American Broadcasting Corporation website

This drug addiction case that shocked the entire United States only revealed the tip of the iceberg of the problem of opioid abuse and drug proliferation in the United States.

The United States accounts for only 5% of the world's population, but uses 80% of the world's opioids.

Hill, director of the Robb Drug Rehabilitation Center in Ohio, said bluntly that the reason why the United States has fallen to where it is today is because "we are a country that solves problems in a 'fast food' way. Fast, fast, fast. Feeling bad, here are pills. Feeling pain, here are pills. The doctor can solve the problem with a stroke of a pen."

Various interest groups in the United States have played a role in fueling the problem of drug abuse. In order to maintain market profits, large American pharmaceutical companies have invested a lot of money to subsidize experts and associations to sell the theory that "opioids are harmless", thereby promoting the legalization of drugs, encouraging pharmacies to vigorously promote addictive drugs, and doctors to prescribe drugs indiscriminately, causing some patients to become addicted to drugs without knowing it and unable to extricate themselves.

△The website of the Center for Public Integrity of the United States reported that opioid manufacturers and distributors spent $880 million on lobbying and political donations in 10 years to prevent the government from introducing relevant restrictions. Cloney, an expert on the opioid crisis in the United States, said that this expenditure is 8 times higher than the lobbying funds of the US gun lobbying group.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of Americans dying from drug and substance abuse has increased dramatically in recent years, exceeding 100,000 people each year.

The Manhattan Institute for Policy Studies, a US think tank, pointed out in an article that US government policymakers must focus on limiting the number of illegal opioids to better protect public health. Unfortunately, in the national drug control strategy released by the US government, the important role that the government should play in fighting one of the biggest public health challenges is almost invisible. Allowing drugs and drug abuse to intensify "reflects the failure of the US government's social governance."

Source: Global Information Radio "Global In-depth Observation"

Reporter: Wang Yuqian

Editor: Yang Nan

Review by Hou Chen and Zhang Zhe

Producer: Guan Juanjuan