It was the crime of the century.

Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin — which is controlled by the billionaire Sackler family — was the hidden hand behind the national opioid epidemic that has destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The company deceived doctors and patients about OxyContin’s addictive properties and rewarded high-volume prescribers.

In September 2019, Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy to protect itself from thousands of lawsuits from individuals, hospitals and local governments. In a settlement reached last month, Purdue Pharma was dissolved, and the Sacklers agreed to pay $4.5 billion to settle claims. But the Sacklers, who remain among the richest families in America, were absolved of opioid-related liability.

It appears that the criminals got away with the crime.

Ryan Hampton knows this story firsthand. An alumnus of the Clinton White House, he became addicted to OxyContin and ended up unemployed and homeless. He has become an addiction recovery advocate and served as one of four victims appointed as a watchdog during the bankruptcy proceedings. He tried to ensure that justice was done but found himself up against powerful interest groups, including representatives of big insurance companies, pharmacies, and state attorneys general. He finally quit as the co-chair of the Official Unsecured Creditors Committee and wrote a book, Unsettled: How the Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Failed the Victims of the American Overdose Crisis.



"Ignored by a system devised to protect extreme wealth and perpetuate social disparity, Purdue’s victims find themselves doubly victimized," Hampton wrote recently in the New York Times. "I know this because I not only represented the victims; I’m one of them."