SAFE Glen Cove Coalition: RAPP vs. Purdue Pharma

A recent article in The New York Times discusses four individuals connected by loss of a loved one due to overdosing on prescription opioids who came together a decade ago to form an organization that promotes the awareness of the harmful effects from Purdue Pharma’s signature drug, OxyContin. They call themselves RAPP, Relatives Against Purdue Pharma. They also seek to challenge false advertising of the drug and have been very active in pursuing legal action to hold the company accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic.

OxyContin has been a silent killer since early 2000s. Some 200,000 people have died from overdosing on prescription opioids, and around 2,000 lawsuits attempting to make opioid makers and distributors pay for the damage unleashed by careless over prescribing are winding their way through the courts. Perdue Pharma was just the first pharmaceutical company to allow for the release of OxyContin to be prescribed and it has become a chain reaction for other pharmaceutical companies to follow suit.

Prescribed medication has become a double edge sword for individuals who have lost loved ones from something that was helping them with their pain. Perdue Pharma wasn’t admitting to the addictive component of this drug, they were blaming the deaths on the abusers of the drug instead.

False advertising of these pain pills has led many to not fully understand the potential harm they could be doing to themselves. Medications have addictive components within them, though pharmaceutical companies don’t enforce the caution and risk of taking these medications as seriously as they should. Many individuals whose relatives passed away due to prescription pills found out after that they were told it’s a relaxant and FDA approved and therefore safe.

The RAPP organization continues to fight the pharmaceutical company despite very public push back from their attorney’s. From lawsuits and court hearings, to news articles and interviews justice was finally served when Perdue Pharma plead guilty to a felony misbranding charge, and admitted that for six years it had fraudulently marketed OxyContin as being less prone to abuse and having fewer narcotic side effects than competing drugs.

RAPP’s prescience is clear but they still believe the company’s owners, the Sackler family, and executives should go to jail. More than anything, they want the judges overseeing the lawsuits to make sure Purdue and the family use their riches to guarantee Americans access to treatment.

The SAFE Glen Cove Coalition is conducting an opioid prevention awareness campaign entitled, "Keeping Glen Cove SAFE," in order to educate and update the community regarding opioid use and its consequences. To learn more about the SAFE Glen Cove Coalition please follow us on www.facebook.com/safeglencove or visit SAFE’s website to learn more about the Opioid Epidemic at www.safeglencove.org.