Before OC, opioids came mixed with acetaminophen to lessen the chance of abuse. All of us were made as vulnerable as those workers and the communities from which the opioid epidemic spread. The money Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family are putting up seems to me small potatoes given the incalculable damage. Still, despite its limitations, the Purdue Pharma settlement is an example of legal change created by grass-roots pressure, in part from typically voiceless places like southern Ohio. Within it is the epidemic’s most important lesson: Our defense against economic forces like Purdue Pharma is to understand that we are best together — out of the shadows and in community.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 18, 2021 10:30 UTC