"Nobody will be made whole"
Another lawsuit against McKinsey, essays on addiction, and a farm animal
issues #17
The Catskills. How else was I supposed to illustrate this depressing story?
As of 2020, nearly 1 million Americans have died of a drug overdose since 1999, and mostly from opioids, according to the CDC.
The role of pharmaceutical companies in driving this crisis is well documented. Nearly every state in the country has been given their share of a $600 billion settlement from McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm that worked with pharma companies like Purdue, the maker of OxyContin.
But some say that money isn’t enough. This week, a group of union health funds sued McKinsey for its role in the opioid epidemic, saying they've spent exorbitant amounts of money to pay for prescriptions and subsequent addiction treatment.
Many of the unions tapped into their pension funds to cover these costs, the group’s lawyer told me for my story for THE CITY. The unions include laborers, iron workers, metallic lathers – unions with members who you can imagine work taxing, physical jobs. The unions’ have paid for every pill, but subsequent treatment for addiction for their members.
We have all experienced the pain of the opioid epidemic. These drugs were introduced to me and my friends in high school, when the pills were called “sticks” and “footballs” for their shapes. They upended and destroyed many lives.
“We have lost too many members and their loved ones,” Louis A. Picani, the president and principal officer of Teamsters Local 456, one of the locals named in the new suit, told THE CITY in a statement.
The group’s lawyer said they hope to get some money for the pension funds, but recognized a brutal truth: “Nobody’s going to be made whole by the end of this.”
Full story here.
READ
I subscribe to The Small Bow, a newsletter that publishes essays about addiction and recovery. A few of my favorites.
Stunning Acts of Headlong Faith
LISTEN
My songs on repeat this week
”TWYLM” by Stradcopy
”Baby’s On Fire” by Brian Eno
”Heal Yourself and Move” by Theo Parrish
Have a good weekend!