People who were addicted to OxyContin or lost loved ones who were addicted to the drug expect very little in compensation from the multibillion-dollar Purdue Pharma bankruptcy settlement.
The DOJ is seeking to block implementation of any part of the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy deal until legal challenges are settled. The deal granted Sackler family members immunity from opioid lawsuits.
The Purdue Pharma bankruptcy process has focused on financial compensation to creditors, but court records include heartrending personal letters from families ravaged by Oxycontin.
As a landmark federal opioid trial nears completion, West Virginia communities are demanding $2.5 billion in compensation. Drug firms say they acted responsibly in shipping millions of pills.
Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney investigated the opioid crisis. He says it was created by pharmaceutical companies, distributors, pharmacists and doctors, all looking to profit.
Attorneys, forensic analysts and other financial experts working for Purdue Pharma spent nearly two years looking for evidence of wrongdoing by the Sacklers. Critics want the findings made public.
The Justice Department says the retailer ignored red flags for years, filling suspicious prescriptions for opioids and contributing to America's deadly addiction crisis. Walmart denies wrongdoing.
Damages could total in the billions. "Walmart had the responsibility and the means to help prevent the diversion of prescription opioids. Instead, for years, it did the opposite," the government said.
Thursday's hearing was the first time members of the Sackler family faced a public accounting for their alleged role in the nation's deadly opioid epidemic.
Critics say the settlement doesn't hold company executives or members of the Sackler family accountable for their aggressive marketing of OxyContin, which helped fuel the nation's opioid epidemic.
The Bipartisan Policy Center released a report Wednesday looking at how federal money is being used to combat the opioid epidemic.
The report builds on one the center released last year, which was the first transparent comprehensive study of its kind tracking opioid resource disbursement.
Susan Barge wants more outrage. The co-founder of Navigate Recovery Gwinnett wonders why people aren't paying attention to an epidemic that continues to...