‘Shame On Sackler’: Massive Protest Breaks Out Over Guggenheim Museum’s Ties To Big Pharma

Common Dreams Staff  (2/10/19)

Demonstrators inside New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum staged a “die in” and dropped thousands of paper slips designed to look like of OxyContin prescriptions Saturday night to protest the facility’s ties to the billionaire Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma and has been accused of deliberately fueling the opioid epidemic for profit.

“Education facilities at the Guggenheim, including a theater and an exhibition gallery, are housed inside the 8,200-square-foot Sackler Center for Arts Education, identified by the museum as ‘a gift of the Mortimer D. Sackler Family,'” the New York Times reported.

“The cloud of white slips, created by a group founded by the photographer Nan Goldin, was a response to a recently disclosed statement by Richard Sackler, the son of a Purdue founder, who said years ago that OxyContin’s launch would be ‘followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition,'” the Times continued.

Videos of the striking demonstration quickly spread on social media.

Demonstrations against the Sackler family continued outside Guggenheim Saturday night, with protesters marching with banners that read, “Shame on Sackler”.

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(Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2017. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )

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‘I Don’t Hear A Denial’: Mass. AG Healey Responds To Purdue Pharma Statement On Lawsuit

 

On Point / WBUR (2/7/19)

For 20 years, Purdue Pharma has been at the center of our national conversation about opioid addiction. Founded and controlled by the Sackler family, the pharmaceutical giant’s flagship product — OxyContin — is the focus of hundreds of lawsuits in more than 35 states.

The latest suit comes from Massachusetts, where the state’s attorney general, Maura Healey, alleges — through emails and company documents — that members of the Sackler family personally and directly pushed sales reps to mislead doctors, steer patients to higher dosages, and pocket profits in the billions. That complaint was released in full, unredacted, late last week.

In a recent statement, Purdue calls the complaint a baseless “vilification” of the Sacklers.

Here’s how Healey responded, Wednesday, On Point.

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