Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“I’ll die young, but it’s like kissing God”

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

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Bingo: Monster (The Sacklers themselves, in case that’s not obvious) I read Say Nothing a few months ago, and it was excellent–so good that Empire of Pain immediately shot to the top of my TBR list. Empire of Pain is the story of the Sackler family–the family behind Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical company responsible for Oxycontin. I’ve read books before about the opioid epidemic and the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma have been mentioned–but this deep dive into the family was FASCINATING. Empire of Pain is divided into three parts: the first […]

Philanthropy is not the same as charity, or, how the Sacklers gaslighted a nation

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

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Living in the UK, there are certain things about the USA which are very alien to me – non-socialized medicine,  for example. I was also unaware of the opioid crisis in the States which has led to thousands of deaths from overdoses and the misery of addiction. Much of this can be laid firmly at the door of Purdue Pharmaceutical, inventor and manufacturer of a proprietary version of oxycodone (an opioid narcotic used for pain relief, which is more powerful than morphine), OxyContin. Other drug […]



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