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Opioid Producers Put Blame on Addicts
Analysis by Dr. Joseph MercolaFact Checked

December 03, 2019

opioid addiction STORY AT-A-GLANCE

-Opioid overdoses kill more than 130 people in the U.S. daily in an unprecedented crisis that continues to spiral out of control

-Purdue Pharma, which manufactures OxyContin, was instrumental in driving up sales of the drug to close to $2 billion a year by 2004

-As it became clear that people were dying from opioids, Purdue Pharma engaged in extensive damage-control tactics, including suggesting that the people dying from opioids were already drug addicts

-Purdue Pharma hired notorious PR firm Dezenhall Resources, which helped spread the opioid anti-story — the idea that pain patients who may lose access to opioids were the true victims of the opioid crisis

-In September 2019, Purdue Pharma filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a deal to settle the more than 2,000 lawsuits it’s currently facing

-Mundipharma, which is selling OxyContin in China, is using many of the same marketing tactics Purdue Pharma is now being accused of