Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, was facing a May 28th trial date in an Oklahoma lawsuit,

a trial that would have featured cameras in the courtroom.

Instead, this week the company opted to settle for $270 million,

a larger sum than the two previous state lawsuit settlements involving the company's

role in the opioid epidemic.

It comes just as Purdue is facing other investigations and as institutions around the world

distanced themselves from the company and its owners, the Sackler family.

A Massachusetts lawsuit is the first to name some of Purdue Farmers owners, eight members of the Sackler family. A Massachusetts lawsuit is the first to name some of Purdue Farmers owners, eight members

of the Sackler family and other executives, claiming they participated in a deadly and illegal

scheme.

Britain's Tate Galleries have joined the National Portrait Gallery in refusing further donations

from the World League Sackler family who's come.

In New York City, protesters took over the

Guggenheim Museum Saturday night to call out the museum's relationship with the Sackler family.

The public pressure may be new, but the story is not. Barry Meyer is a former reporter for the New York

Times and author of Pain Killer, a wonder drugs trail

of addiction and death. He told us when he spoke to him back in 2017 that the public discourse

about chronic pain and treatment has been shaped by companies like Purdue Pharma, with help from

physicians, consultants, and yes, the media.

Before the term opioid was coined, he said,

painkillers were known strictly as narcotics

and were associated with dark alleys and low-lifes.

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