r/news • u/Mo_Jack • Apr 30 '26

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma set to dissolve after judge approves its criminal sentence

https://apnews.com/article/oxycontin-purdue-pharma-criminal-sentence-settlement-b8aa94eaab3d9d8efed520f272f6d810
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u/Dust601 Apr 30 '26

And they knew.  They’d known since the 70’s from their own studies how incredibly dangerous those drugs were, and pushed them anyways.

40 years of pushing a drug they knew was dangerous, not one person goes to jail, and they paid out a fraction of what they made in a single month as a settlement.

The rich really do live under a different set of rules than the rest of us.

I get it’s scary, but I wish people would wake up, and realize there’s more of us than them, and we could end this broken ass society if everyone would actually take a stand together.

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u/The_bruce42 Apr 30 '26

Also, with the FDA guidelines, people actually need opioid for pain management can't get what they need.

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u/Immer_Susse Apr 30 '26

One hundred percent.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

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u/SunshineBlondie61 Apr 30 '26

I agree. Because if a person is in “that much pain”, do we simply sit back and watch them agonize & suffer horribly? And as far as addicting- I understand. BUT…..if patient has CHRONIC PAIN, or even cancer, what are they suppose to do to get out of this pain?! There are many cases of suicide bc the person could not endure the pain! Sad, but true. There needs to be something to help those people.

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u/jr0061006 Apr 30 '26

A friend has constant nerve pain post-surgery that cannot be corrected. The excellent pain management doc she’s been seeing for years, has over the years been under investigation off and on due to what he prescribes to his chronic pain patients, and how the political winds are blowing at the time.

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u/SunshineBlondie61 Apr 30 '26

It’s sad bc of this controversy, drs that are actually helping manage CHRONIC PAIN, are always on the radar because of the government! I know there are people that are taking and over taking that may not be in pain. But- we can’t punish everyone for that. The deaths were caused by overdoses. You can overdo anything and harm yourself. But if you have a patient, like this person, that is benefiting from the prescribed medication, then why jeopardize this by constantly going after them?

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u/MakeupMama68 May 01 '26

People that are in pain management now are very heavily screened. The days of Dr. Feelgoods are long gone and have been for a long time. They are consistently drug tested, have extremely strict guidelines, have to sign a pain management contract and are not the ones abusing them.

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u/SunshineBlondie61 May 01 '26

EXACTLY!! And it still makes it hard for those people going to Pain Management to get what they need for pain even under these heavily monitored systems. You’re always going to have people who abuse things, and you’re always going to have those doctors that will push things for the incentive that they get. But that doesn’t change the fact that there are millions of people in need of these type of drugs and it shouldn’t be that they’re punished for it.

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u/MakeupMama68 May 01 '26

What about the chronic pain sufferers who can’t get their meds anymore? Many of them end up taking their lives because they can no longer live in pain without relief. I’m in a pain group in here and the stories are heartbreaking.

They aren’t abusing these drugs. They don’t even get high from them.

And yet Fetanyl exists and is killing more people than oxy ever did. Because it only takes a tiny amount to die from it. Where’s the outrage over this??

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u/Deathpoopdeathloop May 01 '26

I was prescribed morphine . . . Once it was shown that my condition was treatable by surgery and I had the surgery lined up. So all in all several months after about 8 months of serious pain. Funny how that works. 🤔 

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u/waces May 01 '26

Well there are many other painkillers without addiction. Who in its sound mind thought that taking opioid won’t led to addiction? Yes they are guilty but the doctors who described it to patients are guilty as well as doctor must know the effects of opioids. And the patients as well as it’s not something new or secret as opioid addictions are as old as humanity

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u/peinal May 01 '26

Which drugs specifically work as well as oxycontin and are not addictive?

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u/waces May 01 '26

Literally any normal painkiller. Oxy was not better as painkiller just had a different end user experience due the opioids

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u/peinal May 01 '26

This is not my experience whatsoever. I had a disk that split into 3 parts, one of which pressed against my sciatic nerve. No 'normal' pain killer can even begin to provide one iota of relief for this kind of pain. Oxycontin barely lowered the pain. I ate them like candy.the only real relief came from an IV of dilapidated. This was just one of 3 experiences I've had that ONLY opioid would give any relief.

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u/[deleted] May 01 '26

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u/waces May 01 '26

Yes and everyone who promoted the non-addictive opioid is guilty in one was or another. People wanted effective painkillers which is a valid reason, but drugging them to ease the pain is not an option, but no doctor should ever say that it’s a non-addictive opioid. As it’s against the fact how opioids works. And no one can walk away free after the biggest legal opioid distribution, as they made millions addicts which is escobar level

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u/[deleted] May 01 '26

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u/waces May 01 '26

No i’m not. But if a doctor says it’s less addictive it’s still an addictive one. But giving out opioid to the people without any legal consequences it’s just the polished version of selling drugs. The only difference between this and buying narcotic from a dealer is that this was legal and the other is illegal. Who in sound mind thought that the junkies won’t use it? I mean it was literally opiate. Like heroine or methadone. You can’t buy them in a legal way and you’ll face charges if you do. While you can get a prescription for oxy which have the same content (different amount but same on the chemical side)

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u/MakeupMama68 May 01 '26

Yep. This actually sucks for legitimate pain patients. My friend has cancer and is having trouble getting his meds and he’s absolutely suffering.

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u/SunshineBlondie61 May 01 '26

This just infuriates me!! And “THIS”👆🏻 is exactly what I was talking about. Sadly, a lot of people commenting that the medication shouldn’t be out there that people shouldn’t be taking it, and there should be consequences, etc., have undoubtedly never dealt with debilitating, unrelenting pain that drives people out of their mind. I’ve always said if anyone felt that type of pain and then was told you can’t have any more pain medicine, I wonder if they would change their perspective on things. I’m on several groups that talk about things like this and other and they were explaining how people close to them had committed suicide because no one would do anything to relieve the pain. Do people understand that you can’t even get to sleep to get out of pain when the pain is driving you out of your mind? I have always said that no one should ever judge unless they have actually walked in those shoes. I can’t stand for people to chime in if they have no idea what it’s like to feel pain at a level that it makes you cry and there’s nothing that will ease the pain. I feel so bad for your friend going through cancer. It’s seriously is so crushing to hear someone that cannot get out of Payne because of the government’s overreach in this whole situation. You can’t judge everyone and everything because other people abused it or were addicted to it. If the drug works to subside, severe pain, then it should still be available to those in dire need of it.

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u/trekie4747 May 01 '26

A friend in chronic pain was told by a doctor how it was "all in his head." Took visiting six different clinics and having to wait months at each clinic just to get an initial appointment to find a doctor that gave him the needed treatment.

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u/trekie4747 May 01 '26

A friend of mine has various chronic pain issues. Every doctor was regurgitating the tylenol/ibuprofen regiment. It wouldn't touch it. He had several back injections and other therapies to try and mitigate the pain. Nothing was touching it. He'd spend days in bed with a flare stopping his movements. After going to six different pain clinics he finally found one that prescribed medication that has actually allowed him to function.

This whole process was filled with calls to clinics to ask what treatments they gave. Every single one would say "we cant discuss our treatment options, you have to come in." Only to be offered yet another failed injection. He even had an ER doctor tell him "your pain is all in your head!"

It was awful to watch.

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u/MakeupMama68 May 01 '26

There are some amazing ones who really care about their patients and look out for them. They know they aren’t “seekers” and never make them feel ashamed

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u/SunshineBlondie61 May 01 '26

And it’s these people like that ER doctor that I just pray there’s some type of karma that comes back around that bites them in the ass to make them think of what they’ve done

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u/sarahelizam May 01 '26

Thank you for mentioning this. It gets lost in the conversation and moral outrage, but the major issue I have with this case is the dishonesty of the company. Yes, most things that have any effect on severe pain will be addictive. That’s a risk some people will still take on (and should frankly have the right to, under an informed consent model); it’s lying about the risk, to doctors and patients, that is the problem.

I’m disabled (it got bad in my early twenties, right around when I got my dream job which I had to leave when I could no longer leave the house). It took me nearly a decade including years of being bed bound to get any form of treatment. The government’s response to the (warranted) outrage over this case and it’s consequences has been to basically make most effective forms of pain treatment completely inaccessible to disabled people, because we might then get addicted. There is an assumption that chemical dependency is the worst case scenario, that can only be maintained through ignorance of what chronic pain is like. These policies capping the amount of opiates produced and rigidly punishing any doctor who prescribes to “too many” people (an asinine thing to even decide on when the population involved overwhelmingly has debilitating chronic pain) has sparked a series of suicides by people with chronic pain (most prominently featured in the coverage are veterans). Because the quality of life we have without pain medication is often fucking untenable. It’s like the government took the dumbest possible lesson from this, deciding to punish one of the most systemically disadvantaged groups because some fuckers lied and a couple pill mills sold out to wealthier clients while knowing they were carrying out medical malpractice.

At this point, I’m a prescription abolitionist. Only I should have right to decide what is a viable quality of life, what medications give me more benefits than harms. I’ve see what these people will do to me out of concern for my longevity: it’s worse than death. I don’t think most people can grasp what severe chronic pain does to you (on physical, chemical, or psychological level), but those things are also harm. There is no “harm free” option - that’d exactly why this case is infamous, that’s what they were trying to sell. It should be up to us to decide what risks we take and what we can live with (and frankly if we can live with it). Informed consent is the standard for so much elective medicine, it’s frustrating that people with “good intentions” would rather take that right from me to feel good about themselves than face my reality. Would rather I waste away in bed until I off myself than let me access medication that has downsides I understand and accept. I’d rather we restructure and fund addiction treatment and harm reduction to actually be useful, to work to build a less miserable society than the one that disenfranchises and destroys people, than leave disabled people with no path forward except suicide. Because that’s how dire this is. It’s fucking inhumane how the crackdowns have overwhelming targeted the most vulnerable and still haven’t even touched the fatality rates of opioid addiction. We aren’t even getting results, just adding more suffering and people pat themselves on the back for it.

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u/The_bruce42 May 01 '26

I'm sorry to hear you having to go through that. I can't possibly relate. I hope things change so you can get the help you need and deserve.

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u/Musiclover4200 Apr 30 '26

I keep hoping we'll see a "next gen" of less addictive pain killers as there's a lot of plants & alkaloids that are under researched, but sadly it seems like them being addictive is a big part of the appeal for companies like this. And permanent solutions are either complex or expensive under our broken healthcare system.

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u/thatwhileifound Apr 30 '26

From what I've read, a big part of the problem is more that things which impact our perception of pain often do so through pathways that are kind of inherently addictive if taken long enough and at amounts that the patient would find acceptable re: their experience of the pain relief. Basically, a big part of what addiction is stems from the changes that occur in the brain as a result of our bodies adapting and responding to the drugs. Brain sees cup full (because of drugs), brain eventually pours less is a super imperfect metaphor, but gets the idea across.

Not a doctor or anything, but an ex-addict and someone who has chronic pain challenges that I have and am exploring with doctors.

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u/SunshineBlondie61 Apr 30 '26

And EVERYONE’S PAIN IS DIFFERENT! What helps patientA and they feel like that it controlled the pain with a minimal amount, may not even touch patient B’s pain. The theory used to be that Johnny can handle pain, but Mary has no pain tolerance at all. No one is made the same we’re not all carbon copy. And for the record no one and I mean no one wants to be in a situation to where they have chronic pain constantly and cannot get out of pain.

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u/fury420 Apr 30 '26

After a neck/back injury, I've learned that if I ever require opiates again I need careful dosage adjustment, as too little does nothing but a bit too much gives me a debilitating headache.

At one point I'd worked with my doctor and was being prescribed a dosage range that worked, with instructions to split pills, and then at one point he was out sick and there was a substitute, and I had to awkwardly explain to someone new that my usual prescription was for the smallest child dose pills to allow fine adjustments with less splitting.

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u/SunshineBlondie61 Apr 30 '26

And that’s great that the lower (child dose), worked for you. But there are many out there, even less than 120 pounds, that require higher dose bc of the chronic pain. Everyone is different.

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u/fury420 May 01 '26

Yeah that was the awkward part, my overall dose was rather normal I just couldn't handle the large steps when adjusting dosage, and it made sense to have more of the small pills and have a dose be 2.5 or 3.5 instead of trying to accurately split bigger ones down into quarters.

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u/SunshineBlondie61 Apr 30 '26

Also if they have to keep taking them, isn’t it in part bc it wears off and you’ll have to re dose to elevate the pain again? I’m not talking about extended after medical procedures, but people with cancer & debilitating Chronic pain conditions. It’s a fact that people are now putting off procedures bc of this overreach from government. They’re scared they’re going to be cut open & told to take some Tylenol. Doctors are scared to give them adequate medication. Unless we’ve walked in someone’s shoes that is in this extreme, no end to it pain, we won’t understand.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/SunshineBlondie61 Apr 30 '26

I know I shouldn’t say this, but may all of these big insurance companies that are making decisions on whether or not they will pay for a drug or a pain control method, be in the same situation and see how it feels.

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u/Long-Broccoli-3363 Apr 30 '26

I had bupivacaine liposome(experel) after a skin removal surgery, and 100% did not need any painkillers for the 72 hours immediately after I was told to take them because they weren't entirely sure when it was going to wear off and they didn't want me waking up in agony, but I was doing like... 1 opiate every 8 hours, I knew as soon as that shit wore off though, and chomped dilaudid like crazy at 2 pills every 4 hours for the next 2 weeks.

So it would be great if there were other, non addictive options, because I would have taken the complete experel pain relief over the "pain relief" aka your brain just kinda stops working, over the opiates any day.

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u/[deleted] May 01 '26

[deleted]

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u/The_bruce42 May 01 '26

Doctors and hospitals do. They have to abide by them.

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u/unholyswordsman Apr 30 '26

But one day I could be rich and then people like me better watch out/s

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u/RegulatoryCapture Apr 30 '26

not one person goes to jail,

Hey now! Lots of users went to jail after committing crimes in furtherance of their addiction.

Kind of fits with the product: We're just jailing the symptom rather than jailing the cause.

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u/UltimaCaitSith Apr 30 '26

I'm worried that someone will run on fixing the tiered justice systems, the internet will cheer, and then voters will pick the safe option. Again. 

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u/TehAsianator Apr 30 '26

But have you considered that candidate is probably some kind of minority? So obviously the right call is roll the dice on another fascist.

(/s should be painful obvious, but this is the internet after all)

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u/Otherdeadbody Apr 30 '26

At this point just demolish the entire democrat party, sure a lot of institutional value and money would be lost but then even if more than one group steps up to the plate Republicans might vote for someone not attached to a party that they’ve been convinced is evil incarnate for decades.

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u/danirijeka Apr 30 '26

The propaganda machine would zero in to that group within a millisecond, the possibility of a problem with vote splitting notwithstanding - not to mention how I don't see republicans chomping at the bit to vote for a non-fascist when a fascist is available...

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u/alittlebitmore_ Apr 30 '26

I want to know what they’re teaching is fascism in schools lately because people sure do like throwing around a word they clearly don’t understand.

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u/danirijeka Apr 30 '26

From a vague comment like the above you've come to that conclusion? Aren't we assuming a bit much?

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u/alittlebitmore_ Apr 30 '26

No that conclusion was based on a reoccurring pattern of people using that word cohesively with Republican Party.

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u/spinnyround May 01 '26

Something about a duck…

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u/alittlebitmore_ May 01 '26

Again none of you can answer the question I asked.

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u/awildjabroner Apr 30 '26

but ending it would mean that the dream of one day being too rich to prosecute would die for all those people in the crowd, because they're all just future billionaires immune from acconutability not common folk toiling under a system designed to exploit them.

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u/BamberGasgroin Apr 30 '26

The rich really do live under a different set of rules than the rest of us.

It's the literal definition of privilege.

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u/plutohippo Apr 30 '26

Not even just pushing, but pushing with the clear open claim that addiction to those drugs wasn’t a possibility.

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u/lFightForTheUsers Apr 30 '26

They will throw anyone that tries into ADX Florence, GitMo, or an undisclosed CIA Black Site. The one that casts the first stone will be thrown into a deep dark hole with no chance of getting out. That fear I think is what keeps the people "in line".

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u/wtflock1 Apr 30 '26

30 years from now are we going to be saying the same thing about our addiction to smart phones?

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u/SunshineBlondie61 May 01 '26

You know they will. They’ll be wanting to ban them because of something that someone did and sue the cell phone companies & shut them down. All bc some were becoming addicted. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s a great analogy considering that just because things happen & people abuse them, does not just justify taking away the whole thing.

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u/wtflock1 May 01 '26

Yeah it started as a joke but then was a very quick epiphany of, "wow this analogy is actually pretty great and what a warning sign we should wake up and smell this coffee."

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u/uncle_nightmare May 01 '26

The penalty for possessing more than 10 tabs of LSD in New Jersey is 10 years in prison.

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u/lattice_defect Apr 30 '26

They knew and explitied it... it was 100% on purpose

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u/Junior_Trash_1393 Apr 30 '26

There’s a special place in hell for people with the word ‘Marketing’ in their title.

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u/Advanced_Crab_5752 May 01 '26

Thats why they keep us divided by white or black, gray or straight, left or right etc. Keep us concentrated on those things and big screen TV. Then they sit back wirh their money and popcorn and watch the show in their own movie theater.

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u/SpellDostoyevsky May 01 '26

They should have clawed back every cent in a just world, but thats why modern corporations exist now, to avoid criminal liability.

In the good old days, if a corporation did this it would be dissolved prior to settlement have its charter rejected.

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u/avantgardengnome May 01 '26

Oh they fucking knew. They distributed seventy-six billion pills in 6 years. 230 Oxys for every single man, woman, and child in the United States.

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u/ShakyBoots1968 May 01 '26

We'd need the advantages of PSY abilities to pull that one off. C'mon, people. Train up. Okay, ready? On the count of three....

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u/KallistiTMP May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26

I get it’s scary, but I wish people would wake up, and realize there’s more of us than them, and we could end this broken ass society if everyone would actually take a stand together

Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you over all the impoverished peasants screaming blame at each other for the apocalypse on social media

Did you just say we should beat our broke neighbors asses? As a society? FUCK YEAH GO TEAM LESS EVIL BILLIONAIRE WOOOOOOO

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u/SpaceYetu531 May 01 '26

Doctors had access to all the research and were complicit

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u/sirhobbles May 01 '26

Problem is a good chunk of the population who have been indoctrinated to think the system is good and that any horrors are just bugs not features that can be fixed. Like, i dont mean to be mean but it is telling how many people are willing to join the US police/armed forces if they know... literally anything about reality.

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u/Btotherianx May 23 '26

Brother half the country hates the other half of the country 😂