Reaction to the announcement yesterday of an $8.3 billion settlement between the Department of Justice and opioid drugmaker Purdue Pharma has been largely negative, with the deal widely condemned as insufficient given the harm the company has caused by contributing to the opioid epidemic. Critics point out that Purdue will likely pay only a fraction of the money—the firm has declared bankruptcy—even though it has pleaded guilty to three felony charges, including paying kickbacks to physicians and defrauding Medicare and Medicaid.
The Sackler family, which founded the firm and reaped billions in profits, is paying only $225 million. The public has a right to know if this is a realistic accounting of what it holds and what it owes, in light of the deaths and economic losses Purdue has caused with its highly addictive painkiller OxyContin. There are thousands of other lawsuits still pending against Purdue, and hopefully restitution in those cases will make up for this woefully inadequate solution.
Meanwhile, families of victims of the epidemic say the agreement will bring them little solace or tangible benefits. Many want to see the Sackler family face criminal charges—which is still possible—as the settlement did not rule out further indictments against family members.
And finally, the presidential race is coming to an end but the opioid epidemic has barely registered in the debates or on the campaign trail. More than 470,000 Americans have died over the past two decades from drug overdose, with about 50,000 annually linked to opioids. Ohio, a battleground state, is on track to have one of the deadliest years of opioid overdose deaths—yet there is little mention of the crisis as Americans go to the polls.