One Pill Can Kill: The Opioid Crisis in America, and Those Responsible

“One pill can kill.” “What you can’t see, taste, or smell, can kill you.” “Would you give your child Heroin for a sports injury?”

This graphic, shown above, aims to illustrate the breadth of the opioid epidemic across the United States.

Okay, that last one is a bit dramatic, but each of these billboard slogans carry the same sentiment. Opioids, once considered miracle drugs, have quickly become one of the leading causes for death in the United States. All different forms of opioids, but most commonly OxyContin, are prescribed by doctors so often that their use begins to appear ‘normal’. Following the success of these drugs in World War II, their development and prescription sky-rocketed. And, with time and demand, these drugs are produced with more and more synthetic materials. Fentanyl, a well-known and highly dangerous opioid, is almost entirely synthetic. This allows these drugs to be produced at ever-growing rates and thus keep the cycle of prescription and addiction running smoothly.

Data on the increase in drug overdoes deaths in recent years.

So, what actually is this vicious crisis of addiction and overdose? It often begins in a doctor’s office, a place where one should expect to be helped, rather than harmed. And, at first, that’s what these opioids do. Painkillers like OxyContin are prescribed countless times each day as a balm for pain following surgical procedures, or other injuries. These prescriptions usually are only written for seven days. Chronic pain sufferers, though, often are written different kinds of prescriptions that allow them to continuously refill their opioid supply for an extended period of time. Either way, the drugs do make a huge difference in pain symptoms and provide much needed relief for many patients. The problem is, though, that after a week of medication, a sudden withdrawal may leave a patient feeling overwhelmed by their pain. There is also a loss of the general sense of euphoria often associated with opioid use. This leads them to seek another prescription wherever they can get it, ultimately beginning the cycle of abuse. They use the opioid as much as possible, and then go through serious withdrawal when they run out, which prompts them to seek more.

An example, shown above, of a common marketing strategy that aims to warn about the dangers of opioid use.

Many doctors are trained to see signs of opioid abuse and stop prescribing these drugs when they feel someone is overusing them. This just leads to addicts looking for other sources to acquire their opioids, which are often much less safe than from a pharmacy. This is where drugs like fentanyl, which is exceedingly cheap to produce and incredibly potent, come into the equation. Fentanyl is increasingly easy to find from less-than-reputable sources, and is often mixed into other street drugs because of its potency and price. Thus, people turn to other methods of acquiring opioids, where there are less checks on their use as well.

But addiction, as much as we would love to fight it, is a psychological and sometimes even genetic problem. It cannot be wished away with policy-making. What we can change, though, is the way these drugs are produced, regulated, and distributed in the United States.

At the very base of this massive issue lies Purdue Pharma, an American pharmaceutical company that rose into the spotlight with its manufacture and promotion of OxyContin. Purdue’s strategic marketing team has advertised Oxy from the outset as the “safer, less addictive” painkiller, despite the research and studiesperformed that consistently prove otherwise.

A visual example of the way the art community is slowly rejecting the Sackler family in reference to their irresponsible dealings with OxyContin advertisement.

And directly at the center of this epidemic is the Sackler Family, who has owned and operated Purdue Pharma since 1952. Recognize the name? That might be because the Sacklers are known for using their profits to support artistic and cultural programs across the U.S.. “The Guggenheim in New York City opened the Sackler Center for Arts Education in 2001. The American Museum of Natural History in New York is home to the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genetics and the Sackler Educational Lab, both named for the family” (Porterfield, Forbes 2022). And, of course, one doesn’t even need to leave D.C. to get a close-up with the Sacklers; the Sackler Gallery of Art is one of the Smithsonian organization’s museums just down on our national mall.

The Sackler Family has been proven to have kept insider information from studies on the addictiveness and dangers of Oxy away from the public purposefully, while consistently advertising it tomedical practitioners and hospitals. They knew the risks of their product. They concealed these risks from the public. They supported its use anyway. Now the world feels that they deserve to be punished.

On June 29, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against a previous settlement agreement that shielded the Sacklers from prosecution. A provision of the settlement held that following the litigation against Purdue Pharma, huge sums would be paid in the form of reparations to many state governments as reparations for the part they played in the Opioid epidemic, but the Sacklers themselves would be free from direct litigation. Last week, The Supreme Court struck down that settlement on the basis of the protection of the Sacklers. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote: “In this case, the Sacklers have not filed for bankruptcy or placed all their assets on the table for distribution tocreditors, yet they seek what essentially amounts to a discharge. No provision of the [bankruptcy] code authorizes that kind of relief.”

Another example, shown above, of a common marketing strategy that aims to warn about the dangers of opioid use.

While this decision came as a win for the many Americans who want to see the Sackler Family brought to justice, many others are disappointed. The previously agreed-upon settlement would have put real money into the hands of so many who have been directly impacted by the opioid epidemic. Now that it has been struck down, many feel that they have lost their only chance at some form of reparations. It is yet to be seen what kind of agreement could be reached in the future that would give these Americans that same opportunity.

Ultimately, the opioid crisis will not be a problem that is easy to solve. Its effects are far reaching and permeate communities without discrimination; no one is immune to its harms. But in order to begin making change, we must hold accountable those at the top. Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family overproduced OxyContin and excessively promoted it despite scientific research that warned of its dangers, and for that they must be punished. Following this, we can make real change in the way drugs like Oxy are prescribed from the beginning, and hopefully begin to undo the years of misinformation and halt opioid misuse before it begins.

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One Pill Can Kill: The Opioid Crisis in America, and Those Responsible

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