Sackler Family’s OxyContin Firm To Face Suit From Native Americans
The OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, along with two dozen other opioid makers, are facing a lawsuit brought by three Native American tribes in the Dakotas, claiming that the firms hid the drug’s risk.
Purdue is privately owned by the Sackler family, who are Jewish. (After the publication of this brief, a representative for one branch of the family, the descendants of Arthur M. Sackler, contacted the Forward to note that their branch sold their share of the firm in the 1980s and has never benefited from the sale of OxyContin.)
According to the Associated Press, the three tribes are asking for monetary damages and a fund to pay for addiction treatment.
“This epidemic has overwhelmed our public-health and law-enforcement services, drained resources for addiction therapy, and sent the cost of caring for children of opioid-addicted parents skyrocketing,” Brendan Johnson, a lawyer representing the tribes, told the AP.
Native American populations in South Dakota have been disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.