Thursday, December 18th, congressional representatives from the Committee on Oversight and Reform pummeled David and Dr. Kathe Sackler. Both had served on the board of Purdue Pharma in 2018 and testified before the U.S. House under threat of subpoena, where they answered questions about their role in the opioid epidemic.
NBC News covered the session. Kate Snow featured a number of families who have been destroyed by addiction to the Sacker family medication (video below). One mother said in tears, “And now our family approaches another holiday season without my son.”
Profoundly sorry! Deeply and profoundly sorry! The Sacklers acknowledged the contribution Purdue’s painkiller OxyContin played in the epidemic, which has taken over 450,000 lives in the United States since 1999. They continue their refusal to apologize or admit any wrongdoing.
“I’m not sure that I’m aware of any family in America that’s more evil than yours.”
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.)
Kathe Sackler claimed after plenty of soul-searching, she’s not sure she’d have taken a different course.
“I have tried to figure out if there’s anything I could have done differently knowing what I knew then, not what I know now. There is nothing I can find that I would have done differently.”
Dr. Kathe Sackler
Beginning in 2009, the CDC and University of New Mexico School of Medicine recruited me to battle this epidemic. Thousands across the nation joined our efforts. For over ten years I have served as a warrior in this crisis.
In March 2019, Hawaiian Electric CEO & President Constance Hee Lau and her team fired me from my position for my efforts to reduce this tragic destruction of families and communities whose lives have been ruined.
At the same time, Hawai’i state attorney general, Clare Connors, joined various states and local governments seeking legal redress for the company’s marketing efforts they believe contributed to an opioid addiction and overdose crisis that has been attributed to nearly a half-million deaths in the United States.
The OxyContin Virus
In 1996, the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma released OxyContin. They’ve made over $30 billion since. Court filings reveal the privately-held company transferred $12 to $13 billion of profits to the family.
Most Americans have seen pictures of the COVID-19 virus. As of writing, the disease has led to some 315,000 deaths in the nation. OxyContin is like a virus. Both are spread primarily by human transmission. We believe the SARS-CoV-2 pathogens evolved in Wuhan, China. Humans carried it around the globe. Although the Sackler family created OxyContin, thousands of human beings passed it from one to another.
Dr. Kathe Sackler claims she can’t think of anything else she could have done to prevent the staggering loss of life, as some 500,000 American families have suffered from their drugs. In part she is correct. None of the Sackler family members personally distributed their medication to Americans. The FDA approved the use of the drugs. Hospitals recommended the medication. Doctors prescribed use. Pharmacists dispensed pills. And, patients begged for pain relief.
Corporate executives, such as Hawaiian Electric CEO & President Connie Lau, authorized employees to use these dangerous medications, while denying alternatives proven to be more safe. She contributes to the addiction, spread of tragedy, loss of life and destruction of families.
The DEA demonstrates the hypocrisy of our medical system. They classify oxycodone (OxyContin) as a Schedule II drug, along with combination products with less than 15 milligrams of hydrocodone per dosage unit (Vicodin), cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), fentanyl, Dexedrine, Adderall, and Ritalin.
Yet the federal agency continues to list cannabis as a Schedule I drug claiming there is no currently accepted medical use, although indication of cannabis for medical purposes (as of November 2020) is legal in 35 states, four out of five permanently inhabited U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The U.S. and world acknowledged the medical efficacy of cannabis this month. Nobody has died from cannabis OD.
The Sackler family invented this “miracle drug.” If you had a friend or family member in hospice or palliative care, OxyContin was a blessing. The medication returned dignity to patients with 3-6 months to live and suffering horrible pain. Nobody was concerned about addiction or overdose. Patients weren’t expected to live for long. This was the intended purpose of OxyContin.
Yet once released, OxyContin spread like a virus. People with minor ankle or joint sprains received the mediation. Those who underwent dental procedures received the mediation. Athletes received the medication for sports injuries. Seems everyone was receiving some form of opioid medication. Why not? OxyContin is a “pleasure-creating” and “pain-reducing” drug.
In 400 B.C., Hippocrates, considered “the father of medicine,” dismissed the magical attributes of opium, while acknowledging its usefulness as a narcotic and styptic in treating internal diseases, diseases of women and epidemics. By 1996, international drug trafficking organizations, including China, Nigeria, Colombia and Mexico were “aggressively marketing heroin in the United States and Europe.” [source]
Americans had become infected with opioid viruses and demanded these products in increasing quantities. Substances like OxyContin directly impact our “reptilian brain.”
The reptilian brain does not learn from mistakes. Our lizard brain only has a limited set of behavioral responses which are triggered by certain external factors. It evolved to serve our genes by driving fundamental needs such as feeding, survival, mating, and self-maintenance. Examples of these basic behavioral responses are: dominance, aggression, seeking a mate, worship, sex, fear, rigidity, compulsiveness, obsessiveness, greed, and submission. [source]
Once OxyContin “triggers” the pleasure sensors of our reptilian brain, we quickly become addicted. We don’t learn from mistakes. We can begin seeking this drug obsessively, compulsively, aggressively — until we overdose and die.
Could be a trusted professional male colleague or construction worker who suffered a back injury due to a bad fall; or a long-time female teacher or nurse who needed her painful knee to be replaced. Anyone and everyone can quickly be addicted to these powerful substances. The grip of opioid dependence is powerful and unpredictable.
The BEST COURSE of action is to never use these drugs. NEVER. There are better options, such as medical cannabis. The only danger from using this more safe, and less addictive, plant-based medication is the lack of compassion, wisdom and understanding from political officials and corporate executives, such as Connie Lau, who remain trapped in a racist and uneducated worldview.
From our perspective, we’re not aware of anyone in America who’s more evil than Connie Lau’s corporate family. Who robs someone of their position of employment while they are working to end the opioid addiction and overdose epidemic in our nation?
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