At any one time, NPR’s Brian Mann is probably following about a dozen legal proceedings — all of them seeking some kind of accountability for the opioid crisis. But none of them quite like the hearing he went to a couple weeks back, according to an op-ed in Slate. What made it remarkable were the two dozen people giving searing testimony about the way addiction had upended their lives. “Bankruptcy courts don’t usually do things like this. This is not a normal thing in bankruptcy court to have victim testimony,” Mann said. “But as part of the agreement, three members of the Sackler family did agree to sit through it and listen as these families held up photographs of the dead and talked about what they’d lost. It was powerful and heart-wrenching.” To the people testifying, the billionaire Sackler family is a bunch of high-end drug dealers — executives who led Purdue Pharma as that company aggressively marketed OxyContin in doctor’s offices and hospital wards all over the country. This hearing was part of a settlement deal: The Sacklers have said they’ll give up control of their drug company, they’ll even cough up $6 billion dollars. In exchange: They want to be shielded from personal liability. “A lot of people, including the U.S. Justice Department, have said, ‘Is that how justice is supposed to work? We don’t really think so,’ ” Mann said. “But these family members have been forced to live in this space for a long time, seeking justice, wanting some accountability. And at the end of the day, they think this is the best deal they’re going to get. They think this is the closest they’re going to get to justice.” On Monday’s episode of What Next, Mann spoke about what accountability in the opioid crisis would look like, with half a million Americans dead, according to the op-ed.
