More than two dozen people impacted by the opioid crisis were finally able to confront members of the Sackler family in a virtual court hearing late last week. Victims of opioid addiction and relatives of those lost to drug overdoses shared heart-wrenching accounts of the personal devastation they had experienced on account of OxyContin – railing against the owners of Purdue Pharma for their role in making, marketing, and distributing the highly addictive painkiller.
Former Purdue president Richard Sackler, who has previously stated that his family bears no responsibility for the opioid crisis, announced his presence at the hearing, but could not be seen on video, according to the Associated Press. Richard’s son David joined silently via videoconference.
“I hope that every single victim’s face haunts your every waking moment and your sleeping ones, too,” said Ryan Hampton, a Las Vegas resident who has been in recovery from an OxyContin addiction for the last seven years. “You poisoned our lives and had the audacity to blame us for dying. I hope you hear our names in your dreams. I hope you hear the screams of the families who find their loved ones dead on the bathroom floor. I hope you hear the sirens.”
One woman played a recording of the 911 call she made when her son overdosed before addressing Richard Sackler directly: “You have truly benefitted from the death of children. You are scum of the earth,” she said.
Other people shared photos of family members who had died as a result of their opioid addictions. Jannette Adams spoke of her late husband who became addicted to opioids after pharmaceutical representatives marketed them to him. He died in 2015.
“I’m angry, I’m pissed, but I move on,” Adams said. “Because our society lost a person who could have made so many more contributions. . .You took so much from us, but we plan to, through our faith in God, move forward.”
The virtual hearing lasted for a total of three hours. Under court rules, the Sacklers were not allowed to respond to victims. The bankruptcy judge in charge of Purdue’s case approved a $6 billion opioid settlement last week to be paid for by the Sackler family, according to Reuters.
