Thread by @HappyWarriorP

Record Numbers of Americans Dying of Overdoses. Instead of Justice, We Get Theater👨‍⚖️

"Whole thing is kabuki theater, It ought to be about money" said Ausness. "About who pays what & instead they want to make Sacklers listen to people complain about them"
newsweek.com/record-numbers…

Guggenheim joined several other museums last week w/an announcement they are removing the Sackler nameplate from their arts center,

Once again victims are being offered busy work as though it were meaningful reform.
#opioids #medtwitter #sacklers #HarmReduction @praddenkeefe

We are in the midst of the opioid crisis, an addiction & overdose crisis fed by the ubiquity of illicit & deadly fentanyl in the black market,

over 108k people died from an opioid overdose in 2021,
npr.org/sections/healt… #opioids #addiction #news #twitter #CrimesAgainstHumanity

VAST majority of deaths had little relation to prescription opioids,

media & politicians, plus DEA, blame this crisis as the fault of the big pharmaceutical companies,

Some of which did behave very badly
@Timcast @benshapiro @DavidAFrench @stillgray
newsweek.com/record-numbers…

Few of these companies have seen significant litigation or criminal investigations,

Instead, focus of the media & politicians is to embarrass the Sacklers, make fun of them & parade their victims around,

pretending that doing so is some sort of justice
npr.org/2022/03/10/108…

Embarrassing the Sackklers will not bring justice to victims,🤔

Scrubbing names from museums, like suing them in court, amounts to little more than kabuki theater—& everyone but victims knows it🤯
newsweek.com/record-numbers… @AbbyJohnson @neontaster @TheQuartering @wil_da_beast630

Despite millions dead or affected by the crisis,
calls for justice rarely rise above the symbolic,

A far cry from meaningful consequences that would help victims or their families
#chronicpain #disability @dr4liberty @process_x @emzanotti @lizzywol newsweek.com/record-numbers…

Despite what U have been told by The New York Times or Washington Post, fight against the Sacklers in court is no more meaningful than removing nameplates🙄

nytimes.com/2022/03/10/hea… #medicine #hr #harmreduction #legaltwitter #news #politics #writer @PolitiBunny @four4thefire @g

earlier this year, the media cheered as Sacklers were forced to listen to hours of testimony from angry & crying victims & families during courtroom proceedings.

Coverage was wall to wall for this moment,
which felt great but did actively little

https://twitter.com/praddenkeefe/status/1501944222118658053

#opioids

I understand why this felt important for many & I don't begrudge them that,

But the lawsuit is a far cry from what real justice would look like. "Whole thing is kabuki theater," says Richard Ausness, a legal scholar & opioid litigation expert from University of Kentucky Law.

Ausness follows opioid litigation closely & given testimony & appeared in top articles about the topic, is wary & pessimistic

He told me that while theres a high emotional charge to these proceedings,

The bearing on the case is minimal
newsweek.com/record-numbers… @RonChapmanAtty

"It ought to be about money," Dr. Ausness explained.

"About who pays what. And instead, they want to make the Sacklers listen to people complain about them."

#opioids #litigation #lawtwitter #legaltwitter #addiction #medicine #truth #ElonMusk

What about the opioid litigation Pete?
I thought Biden DOJ was on the case?

Wrong, It may surprise U to learn that instead of trying to bring the Sacklers to justice, Department of Justice has done anything but.😲

@davidharsanyi @nytdavidbrooks @DanLairdMD @LawofTD @miltimore79

On multiple occasions, Sacklers agreed to multi-billion-dollar settlements,

like a bankruptcy agreement from September of 2021 which mandated the Sacklers \forfeit Purdue ownership & shell out $4.3 billion to litigants.

However, DOJ didn't like this
npr.org/2021/09/01/103…

Problem for BIDEN DOJ was the settlement would mean the Sacklers received immunity from future lawsuits

Meaning they couldnt be s̶h̶a̶k̶e̶d-̶d̶o̶w̶n̶
sued again in the future

Basic standard of most civil litigation
newsweek.com/record-numbers… @RichLowry @charlescwcooke @ggreenwald

Why would anyone settle a case if it didn't mean you wouldn't be sued for the exact same thing by the same or similar parties all over again🤔

Its a basic immunity agreement common to civil litigation, but the DOJ & big litigation firms want that perpetual payday

so the plan was killed last December by U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, after the DOJ publicly announced they didn't like how the Sacklers would be immune to further shakedowns lawsuits.

In March, Sacklers came to a new agreement for a settlement,

Compensation coming to $6 billion— w/ immunity from further litigation.

& again, Biden DOJ pushed to have it overturned,
@wesyang @Zigmanfreud @StacyOnTheRight @realchrisrufo @JackPosobiec newsweek.com/record-numbers…

Ausness told me he believes it will end up in the Supreme Court & is anyone's guess what happens then,

But as it currently stands, he & others predict that the Sackler's victims will never see a single cent from civil litigation.
@mattklewis @libsoftiktok @brad_polumbo @Timcast

as I covered for @reason,

even when big opioid litigation cases are won or settled,

vast majority of funds will end up in the state's general budgets & on boondoggles not linked to effectively fighting addiction
reason.com/2021/09/21/mos… @billybinion @QTRBlackGarrett @scrowder

Meaning victims have been largely played as props for the big litigation firms & shameless politicians,

Promising opioid crisis victims if they told their stories & gave testimony in court they would finally get justice,

Knowing that day would never come
newsweek.com/record-numbers…

that should disgust all of us,

The media & prosecutors should have been honest w/ victims from the start & admitted putting the Sacklers in jail was never an option.

That the best they could hope for is to hurt the Sacklers where it counts: their wallets
#money #finance #news

Rather than holding out years for criminal charges & a larger payday that will nvr arrive, victims should insist the Sacklers pay restitution immediately.

Should be the focus now. Accept the $6 billion.
@MikhailaAleksis @jordanbpeterson @petersuderman

Money, of course, will never be enough to heal victims' pain, but that's the best option on offer. It's certainly better than removing a placard off of a museum wall.

There is no easy way to put this:
The victims of the opioid crisis are being lied to.

& it's prolonging the crisis & any possible justice or solution.

#opioids #opioidcrisis #WestVirginia @tedcruz @michaeljknowles @SpencerKlavan @andrewklavan @MattWallace888 @MattWalshBlog

I wish things were different,
after careful research,

I conclude that those in authority are mishandling the opioid litigation in terrible & significant ways,

Victims don't need to be re-victimized again 😔
newsweek.com/record-numbers… @elonmusk @bungarsargon @stillgray @ighaworth

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