Purdue Pharma Owner Richard Sackler Said Opioid Addicts Were ‘Being Glorified’ Like a ‘Populist Victim’: WSJ

Richard Sackler, one of the owners of opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma, allegedly wrote in emails that opioid addicts were criminals who were “being glorified as some sort of populist victim,” The Wall Street Journal reports. According to newly filed portions of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against Purdue, Sackler seemed to show disdain toward what he described as the “criminal addicts” who he said were misusing the drug Oxycontin. “I’ll tell you something that will totally revise your belief that addicts don’t want to be addicted. It is factually untrue. They get themselves addicted over and over again,” Sackler allegedly wrote in one email. In another, he said the opioid addicted were engaging with Oxycontin with “full, criminal intent,” according to the Journal. “Why should they be entitled to our sympathies? This vilification is shit,” he was quoted as saying. The lawsuit itself reportedly seeks to hold Sackler family members accountable for the opioid crisis sweeping the United States. It also reportedly accuses the Sacklers of “fraudulently” transferring funds from the company when they allegedly knew it faced “significant legal liabilities.” A spokesman for the Sackler family told the Journal that Richard Sackler has “tremendous empathy for anyone suffering with addiction” and said the suit was filed to “publicly vilify Purdue and its former directors.”