A sense of closure is mixing with anger and pain for some of the nearly two dozen people who told their personal stories to members of the family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma.
Dede Yoder poses for a picture with a photo of her son, Chris Yoder, after making a statement during a hearing in New York, Thursday, March 10, 2022. People who lost loved ones or years of their own lives to opioid addiction are getting their first and perhaps only chance to confront members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma. Thursday's virtual court hearing is being run by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge.
“I can feel, as a mother, that my son was seen and heard by the family,” said Trainor, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who got an OxyContin prescription at 21 and soon became addicted. She's now 40, in recovery and working with others who struggle with drug abuse. Vitaly Pinkusov described waking up to find his 32-year-old wife’s body cold in their bed. Kristy Nelson played a recording of her frantic 911 call reporting that her son was unresponsive. Stephanie Lubinski recounted how her husband went into their basement and shot himself in the chest.
OxyContin, a pioneering extended-release prescription painkiller, hit the market in 1996, while Purdue and other drug companies funded efforts to suggest that prescribers consider opioids for a wider range of pain conditions than previously thought appropriate. Purdue asserted that far fewer than 1% of people prescribed opioids developed addictions, though there weren’t rigorous studies to support the claim.
“For once, we felt to have a sense of power over privilege, as it pertains to the Sacklers,” she said.
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