John Halpern and David Blistein
Unwinnable war
It has taken a perfect storm of overmarketing and overprescribing opioids, combined with the ease of adulteration and the ingenuity of drug cartels, to create today’s crisis
In 1995, two brothers, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler, were made honorary Knight Commanders of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in honor of their “professional, humanitarian and exploration” achievements - an award that has been bestowed on an eclectic assortment of luminaries, including Mother Theresa, Bono, and J. Edgar Hoover.
The same year, Purdue Pharma, a company owned by the Sacklers, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for OxyContin.