Lost & Found: A Profile of Richard Sackler |
Misconceptions:
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The following essay is about a man who has deliberately stayed out of the public eye. Dr. Richard Sackler was the president and director of advertising at Purdue Pharmaceuticals from 1999-2003. During this time, the company made billions by aggressively marketing the potent drug OxyContin as a safe, non-habit forming opioid. However, recently uncovered evidence suggests Sackler always knew the drug was highly addictive, but deliberately withheld this information in advertisements.
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This essay goes over harm reduction, an umbrella term referring to programs that hope to improve the health of current illicit drug users. In the opioid crisis, this can look like providing needle exchange clinics or free access to overdose-reversing drugs like naloxone (pictured above). Many believe that such programs encourage people to abuse illicit opioids, but evidence shows that they are more effective in promoting recovery and safety than traditional "cold-turkey" sobriety programs.
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