The Secretive Family Making Billions From the Opioid Epidemic

From now on, 'Sackler Brothers' ought to conjure up something like a mixture of dread, contempt, and shame, the same as the word 'Escobar' does for Colombians now.

One thing is for sure. Americans are responsible for their opioid epidemic, and Americans -- a very few of them -- are the main beneficiaries of the epidemic:

The Secretive Family Making Billions From the Opioid Epidemic

a reply to: Namdru

It is not the Sacklers, personally, who are responsible for the situation, but an industrial, consumer oriented attitude towards medicine. If a pill makes the pain go away, that is all it takes to make things better. Pharmaceutical companies wine and dine physicians to convince them to prescribe their products. The FDA is directed by people who came up in the industry they regulate. Most crucially, people feel disempowered. If a pill is supposed to make them feel better, they are too passive to say no.

a reply to: Namdru

Always looking for someone to blame!

Opiates are a WONDER DRUG. They help us to control severe pain and help us to die a little less uncomfortably.

These people are the legit side of the business. If doctors are handing them out like sweeties it is not this family's fault is it.

Why do you pick out individuals when we are all sick?

Man, the epidemic itself tells us how sick and in pain we are in the West mentally if not physically.

The family blaming is wearing thin. Why do you go hunting for families to blame? Is it because you are scared of facing the institutions and need to pick on something more vulnerable? I don't like it one bit. I find it cheap and yob like.

a reply to: Namdru

Here are the figures of ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medecine) for 2016 : PDF

- Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 52,404 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 12,990 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2015.

- From 1999 to 2008, overdose death rates, sales and substance use disorder treatment admissions related to prescription pain relievers increased in parallel. The overdose death rate in 2008 was nearly four times the 1999 rate; sales of prescription pain relievers in 2010 were four times those in 1999; and the substance use disorder treatment admission rate in 2009 was six times the 1999 rate.

- In 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids, which is more than enough to give every American adult their own bottle of pills.

- Four in five new heroin users started out misusing prescription painkillers.

- 94% of respondents in a 2014 survey of people in treatment for opioid addiction said they chose to use heroin because prescription opioids were "far more expensive and harder to obtain".

a reply to: Revolution9

I think it's good to hang blame on rich families. The Sacklers are a classic case in point. I've known very wealthy people and they one and all feel themselves above it all, to a greater or lesser degree. They all make assumptions humble people do not make regarding personal responsibility. The Sacklers have done a great job to disguise the source of their fortune. It may not be as dirty a fortune as Doris Duke's for example -- Oxycontin doesn't kill as many people as tobacco -- but it is still a case of lots of wealth generated from the misery of millions.

So to all of you who think this family-blaming is bullsh**, I say you are full of it. And I bet you make money on people's backs too, and don't care.

I suck with dates, but 2008-2009, where does all this extra opium come from, Afghanistan? After we invade the worlds opium producers, our opium deaths rise? Hmmm...

why aren't we slapping opioid buyers and traffickers with felonies and excessive jail times and treat their addictions as a crime instead of a medical condition.?

originally posted by: iTruthSeeker
I suck with dates, but 2008-2009, where does all this extra opium come from, Afghanistan? After we invade the worlds opium producers, our opium deaths rise? Hmmm...

My thoughts exactly!

After looking up some info on this family, yes, indeed, they are multi-wealthy due to the sale of oxycontin and allow most of their philanthropy to Israel and art. The family does indeed not to seem too concerned about all the death their profits have caused. I saw nothing being done to help with the destruction of people's lives but they do care about their art and Israel.

Good job op. This family should be called out. They seem to live in their golden world without a conscience. Who could possibly defend them? They do nothing nor seem to care about the epidemic of which they were the main contributors.

His daughter's contribution is as a philanthropist for art, for god's sake.

These guys are of course crooks!

This is why Marijuana needs to be removed from the Federal Ban NOW!

originally posted by: Justso
After looking up some info on this family, yes, indeed, they are multi-wealthy due to the sale of oxycontin and allow most of their philanthropy to Israel and art. The family does indeed not to seem too concerned about all the death their profits have caused. I saw nothing being done to help with the destruction of people's lives but they do care about their art and Israel.

Good job op. This family should be called out. They seem to live in their golden world without a conscience. Who could possibly defend them? They do nothing nor seem to care about the epidemic of which they were the main contributors.

His daughter's contribution is as a philanthropist for art, for god's sake.

I don't want to be that guy, but the same could be said about automakers.. Seems like an honest profession. Does the car maker feel guilty, when one decides to make an irresponsible decision which in turn ends in the persons death?


This may sound cold, but I have taken those horrible things before, and I made sure to take an amount that would not KILL me. I also look both ways before I cross the street. I hate pharmaceuticals as much as anyone else, but does some of the blame not fall on the person taking them?

a reply to: iTruthSeeker

Of course people are or should be responsible for their actions. But art and Israel?

The auto makers pay alot for their mistakes and there are many examples.

The two do not equate. This family has turned its back on something that they have gained from and nothing to help the sufferers? Not buying it.

It's going to get worse before it gets better.

I'm a VA patient and the VA is ending opioids across the board where I go.

My doctor told me (exact words) "you do not have a right to a pain free life" and said I would no longer be prescribed opioid based pain medication even though he knew "I wasn't using it to get high and I wasn't selling it. "He told me "try aspirin and yoga" as well as "it is your decision if you decide to self medicate off the streets".

Four years of pain meds for bone injuries and various damage. Four years of urinalysis every three months to ensure I WAS taking my prescribed meds and NOT taking any other illicit drugs.

Cluster headaches from multiple mTBI, six cracked vertebrae in my neck and three in my back, both shoulders are held in with silk cord and steel anchors... yoga and aspirin...I'd laugh if it didn't make me so ^$%#^$ mad.

The only legal drug that is used for severe pain relief and its being taken away because idiots can't help from being idiots.

Looked into M/M to see if it was an alternative and getting a prescription for that is signing away your Second Amendment rights instantly. That seems fair.

It sucked for the first few days. Skin didn't fit and joints felt like broken glass. Didn't get any sleep. But it's been two weeks and now it's just the pain from the injuries to deal with...

Bourbon, weed, horse... none of the options work because I'm in college and I need my head clear to do homework. Opioids allowed me to work without pain and without clouding my mind.

But idiots do what idiots do, so I chew through the pain and write term papers because I do not have a right to a pain free life but somehow "yoga and aspirin" are the key.

Sorry for the rant, but put the blame where it belongs. People using this drug as it was intended have no complaints. People never prescribed the drug and getting high of it or people that double, triple, or quadruple their doses are to blame, people that drink on the meds and mix their meds on purpose are to blame. There is a reason this ^$%# was called "hillbilly heroin" - the wrong people used it for the wrong reasons, now the right people will not be able to use it for the right reasons. Blame the maker, seems legit.

originally posted by: Justso
a reply to: iTruthSeeker

Of course people are or should be responsible for their actions. But art and Israel?

The auto makers pay alot for their mistakes and there are many examples.

The two do not equate. This family has turned its back on something that they have gained from and nothing to help the sufferers? Not buying it.

Oh I do agree with you. Just saying that some fault should be on the people who take too much. But I see the evil side, how they push these meds to people who maybe do not need something as strong and addictive. Hopefully natural substances in time will take over.

a reply to: 200Plus

Brother you are full of it. You sound like a violin blaming idiots for being idiots. Lol look at the mirror. Your doctor knows way more than you do. And you sound like a junkie. Try yoga and meditation and stop the pills if you can, if not then go and live pain free, lol on opiates. Thats a life. Lol Sackler family just proved their point with your post. They sleep long and hard everynight, because they know that ppl like you will never take the yoga or eat healthy or try meditation, and on the abscence of those tools of well-being, they are doing a service to humanity to at least put you down humanly, through an overdose in your nearfuture, or worst a life of dependecy on a substance that you cant produce or control the price. I wouldnt take that route if ur smart if u ask me. Your life sounds like a misserable existence, im not as strong as you are, or maybe i would be if i walked in your shoes. Good luck mate.

a reply to: anarkyangel


Did you read my post? I haven't had opiates in two weeks. I'm past the physical stages of withdrawals. It's out of my system.

40mg of hydrocodone a day for pain is hardly a junkie and isn't going to lead to an overdose.

It just pisses me off that a doctor can look me in the eye and say "you do not have a right to a pain free life" then say "try yoga and aspirin" as a throw away line.

What happens when hillbillies figure out a way to get high off blood pressure medication? We going to stop prescribing that too?

originally posted by: iTruthSeeker
I suck with dates, but 2008-2009, where does all this extra opium come from, Afghanistan? After we invade the worlds opium producers, our opium deaths rise? Hmmm...

Oxycontin is sourced from Thebaine, not morphine. A minor constituent of opium, thebaine is chemically similar to both morphine and codeine, but has stimulatory rather than depressant effects.

I have an idea that the fact that thebaine is sourced from a different poppy (Papaver bracteatum) to the one that opium and morphine is sourced from (Papaver somniferum) provided one loophole for its commercial acceptance as an acceptable pain killer. I don't believe that the psychological side effects of thebaine were properly studied prior to its commercial release.

An increasing source of Thebaine originates from Tasmania via Glaxo Klein Pharmaceuticals.

a reply to: Golden Rule

Thanks for clearing that up!

a reply to: anarkyangel

I truly hope you never have an occasion to suffer crushed bones. I hope you never have to endure having those crushed bones screwed together with titanium rods and packed with cadaver bone. I hope you never have to exist flat of your back while those bones attempt to heal only to be told that more surgery is needed, more screws and rods. I hope you never have to undergo years of physical therapy just to be able to walk around. I hope you never experience the agonizing ache of those crushed bones when the weather turns just a little bit. I hope you never have to struggle just to walk upright to the bathroom in the mornings.

There are tons of natural substances that can bring great relief to those who suffer chronic pain. But for those who suffer bone and associated nerve pain, an overnight weather change can be disabling if the pain isn't eased quickly.

I've watched two mean who are extremely dear to me endure this sort of pain for over 30 years with repeated surgeries that promised to help the pain. Some did. Some didn't. They've adopted a dualistic approach to the pain, combining a lot of natural remedies with pharmaceutical remedies when the natural ones fail. Without the opiates they wouldn't be able to get out of bed and to do the physical therapy needed to help the healing process or maintain body function.

I'm sincere when I say I hope you never have to suffer such pain because that is not something I would wish on any human. But in my opinion you would do well not to be quite so arrogant in your judgement of others.

The opiate crisis is a cover....they need to decrease global consumption so they can safely/covertly store the massive volumes of many different types of critical drugs they wish to have in their underground bunkers as they prepare for Nibirus arrival.

In Canada Asian criminal gangs spearheaded a massive influx of counterfeit fentanyl which comes out of the wash from the media as "opiates" ....then the Mexicans decided to jump in and produce pills by the millions right in Country instead of letting the Asians ship tonnes of the crap into Canada.....

The epidemic of deaths related to this covert flooding of many countries with Fentanyl which are being misrepresented as prescribed drugs or Opiates is being done/allowed to happen as a type of smokescreen false-flag.

The billions of pills being made and sold globally by these and other criminal enterprises have little to nothing to do with prescriptions being given for opiates.....the deaths happening all over the place are in the majority caused by illegally produced and distributed drugs passed off by the media as being "opiates"....

They are mass-hoarding everything critical underground now....everything.