I SURVIVED THE OPIOID CRISIS.
I narrowly escaped. I went from the darkness and ran full speed into The World. I was isolated, but I realized I wasn’t alone. When I got out of treatment I became absorbed in reports of addicts dropping dead from my drug, OxyContin.
I learned that the Sackler family, whose name I knew from museums and galleries, were responsible for the epidemic. This family formulated, marketed, and distributed OxyContin. I decided to make the private public by calling them to task. My first action is to publish personal photographs from my own history.
HARM REDUCTION
Harm reduction is a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use. Harm Reduction is also a movement for social justice built on a belief in, and respect for, the rights of people who use drugs.
–from Harm Reduction Coalition
https://harmreduction.org/about-us/principles-of-harm-reduction/
Harm reduction incorporates a spectrum of strategies from safer use, to managed use to abstinence to meet drug users “where they’re at,” addressing conditions of use along with the use itself. Because harm reduction demands that interventions and policies designed to serve drug users reflect specific individual and community needs, there is no universal definition of or formula for implementing harm reduction.
THE SACKLERS
The Sackler fortune comes from drugs. Their family companies (Purdue Pharma in America, and Mundipharma in Europe) have made billions pushing prescription pills with predatory marketing techniques, especially their blockbuster opiate, OxyContin. Despite research that shows its highly addictive potential and minimal clinical effectiveness, the Sacklers pushed their drug directly through physicians as a miraculous solution to any kind of pain. They are now on a worldwide campaign to expand OxyContin’s reach through Mundipharma. The Sackler family made billions by exploiting our physical and emotional pain, and our cultural institutions are complicit in whitewashing their reputation by accepting the Sackler’s toxic philanthropy.
Hold the Sackler Family and Purdue Pharma accountable for the Opioid Crisis
