What the Sackler Family Owes Me
(and My Fellow Kentuckians)

From 2000-2017, overdose-associated hospitalization charges in the state of Kentucky totaled $1.47 billion.
In these same years, 16,858 Kentuckians lost their lives to drug overdoses.
That's roughly the current population of Garrard County.

In 2006-2014, 2.45 billion pain pills were legally distributed in Kentucky.
If distributed evenly, that's enough for every Kentuckian to have had 62 opioid pills each, every single year.

From 1991-2010, Purdue Pharma employed 78 pharmaceutical reps to roam Kentucky's highways and hollows, selling the good news that was their miracle pill, OxyContin.

Purdue Pharma is owned by the Sackler family– family known famously for American philanthropy and infamously for their pharmaceutical empire.
OxyContin was the Sackler miracle drug, until it wasn’t. It was aggressively marketed on false claims of low addiction potential and as being safe for the long-term use in the treatment of chronic pain.

In an effort to build an empire, the Sacklers targeted communities with industries built on pain, like Eastern Kentucky's coal mining regions.
Word of the miracle pill trickled into all parts of the state.

In 2000, Kentucky's overdose death rate was close to the national average.
See the chart below to watch the fast rise of a bluegrass epidemic.

Kentucky knows bourbon, horses, and pain.
Some parts of Kentucky exist so deep in the red bloody hands of the Sacklers that there doesn't seem to be a way around slow-burn addictions, parking lot overdoses, and one death after another.

Below is a map showing the the average pills distributed on an annual basis per person in each Kentucky county.
All of these pills were distrubuted legally in retail and chain pharmacies.
The pill count depicts an average count based on annual reports from 2006-2014.
Hover over each county to see the count.
This map shows oxycodone and hydrocodone pills only.

It's important to understand that the opioid epidemic was planted and grown legally.
The FDA gave a special label certifying OxyContin as less addictive than other opioids despite no sound evidence of this.
This played a large part in why doctors prescribed so much OxyContin and why pharmacies could dispense it.

Use the map below to understand where the pills were coming from in your area.
This is a map of retail and chain pharmacies in Kentucky.
Bigger circles mean more pills were distributed per resident of the pharmacy's county.
Hover over a circle for more information on it.
You can zoom into your area of interst to explore more closely.
Use the slider bar in the lower left corner to view data from any year between 2006-2014.
This map shows oxycodone and hydrocone pills only.

In 2007, Kentucky sued Purdue Pharma.
Former Attorney General Greg Stumbo anticipated a billion dollar settlement.

From 2007-2014, there were 45,900 overdose hospitalizations in Kentucky.
Of these hospitalizations, 12,093 had Medicaid as the expected payer.
The total charges associated with Medicaid were $241.3 million.

Eight years after the initial lawsuit, Purdue Pharma agreed to pay the state of Kentucky $24 million.

"Why did Kentucky settle a case for 10 percent of the amount Oklahoma obtained, a state with a slightly smaller and substantially less affected population?" asked Robert Stivers, Kentucky Senate President.

The Sacklers have still never admitted to any form of wrongdoing in the opioid epidemic.
In the video below, Richard Sackler denies Purdue Pharma's responsibility in Kentucky's opioid epidemic.

Earlier this year, a bankruptcy settlement was reached in which the Sackler family could not be held liable.
The deal took away the rights of opioid epidemic victims to sue the Sacklers.
On December 17, 2021, a federal judge overturned the deal--not quite a "win" but a half a breath of relief.
The reality, however, is that no payout or deal can reverse the damage that the Sackler family has caused.
The deceitful marketing of OxyContin incited a butterfly effect chain within Kentucky and the entire United States.

I do not know what the Sacklers owe me or my fellow Kentuckians.
I do not know how to quantify lost lives and lifelong trauma.

I do know that having an opioid-addicted parent is harder than having a dead parent.
The Sacklers even stole my grief.

Remorse will not reverse the damage, but for a state full of people begging to heal, an admission of wrongdoing is the very least of what it is owed.