Sawt Falasteen - US opioid crisis victims testify at emotional Purdue Pharma hearing

Between 1999 and 2023, around 806,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States, according to government data.

Purdue and other opioid makers and distributors are accused of aggressively marketing prescription painkillers like OxyContin starting in the 1990s, while hiding how addictive the drugs are.

Among the victims of the opioid epidemic was the mother of a teenage boy. "Because my mom died, I had depression and thoughts of killing myself," the son told the court in an emotional testimony via video call, sitting next to his father.

"I hope you feel guilty," he told the Sackler family, which owned Purdue for decades.

The family and company are due to pay more than $8 billion in fines, forfeitures and penalties.

The hearing to conclude a Department of Justice probe was originally scheduled to take place remotely, but US Judge Madeline Cox Arleo moved it to an in-person hearing after seeing protesters outside her courthouse in Newark, New Jersey.

"That's the least I could do," the judge told a victim who thanked her.

On Tuesday, some 40 victims and their families attended the hearing, with more joining online. Their testimonies, which Arleo described as "heartbreaking," ran for more than six hours.

- 'Hole in our family' -

Alexis Pleus's son was prescribed OxyContin after suffering a high school football injury.

He died in 2014 from a heroin overdose, leaving a "gaping hole in our family for eternity," said Pleus.

Those who survived addiction spoke of their "guilt" of being alive, while families of those who died blamed themselves for not having done enough.

Many painted a picture of "destroyed" lives: divorces, losing custody of their children, prison, psychiatric hospitals, and astronomical medical bills in the hope of regaining "a normal, meaningful life."

The wives of two men who died recalled losing their homes. One of them said she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

In many cases, families that were torn apart said the nightmare "started in the doctor's offices."

Purdue has admitted to promoting OxyContin by paying doctors to prescribe it, bringing in tens of billions of dollars for the laboratory and the Sackler family.

For many, opioid addiction begins with prescribed painkillers before they increase their consumption and eventually turn to illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opioid.

Many in the courtroom wept during the hearing, and the judge was visibly emotional when listening to Julie Werner Strickler, whose son was prescribed his first pills in the army.

"These people are not statistics in an epidemiological study," the judge said when handing down the sentence.

- 'Criminal enterprise' -

After Arleo read the names of more than 200 victims who had submitted written statements, she ordered Steve Miller, Purdue Pharma's board chair, to apologize to them.

Arleo also apologized on behalf of the US government, saying it had "failed" to protect the public from Purdue, which she likened to a "criminal enterprise."

The sentence against Purdue paves the way for bankruptcy proceedings and its dissolution on May 1, as agreed in a settlement with several US states last year.

What remains of Purdue will be replaced by Knoa Pharma, a public benefit company that will provide opioid-use disorder treatments and overdose reversal medicines.

Several victims on Tuesday called for the rejection of the settlement, which would protect the Sackler family from criminal prosecution.

Expressing her frustration with the deal, Arleo said that it was still the "best route."

"It's no shock. This is the second time I've been in a courtroom where the judge was apologetic and basically said there should have been jail sentences included. But there's always a 'but,'" said Edward Bisch, who lost his teenage son in the epidemic.

For many victims and their families, the fight continues daily in community initiatives to prevent and treat opioid addiction, which are set to receive part of the sums owed by Purdue.

B.Khalifa--SF-PST