When I was appointed by the Department of Justice to serve on the creditors committee in the landmark Purdue Pharma bankruptcy, I knew getting justice was the longest of long shots. The company that gaslit America's opioid overdose crisis filed for bankruptcy in September 2019, in order to settle over 2,700 lawsuits for their role in getting millions hooked on their opioid products. As someone in long-term recovery from an opioid addiction that began with OxyContin, a Purdue product, I felt a moral calling to help dismantle Purdue. Purdue nearly destroyed my life. They certainly destroyed countless others. Serving on this committee was my only chance to make sure my community — a community of survivors, victims, and families — got any direct compensation for the indescribable destruction we experienced through Purdue's greed, which was then owned by members of the infamous Sackler family.
Yet I soon found the creditors' committee had far less power than I had been led to believe. For over two years, the creditors committee met virtually due to COVID-19, spending countless hours trying to hammer out a settlement. Sadly, the victims on the committee were outnumbered by corporate interests (five corporate members to four victim members).
