Congresswoman Cori Bush Demands Accountability for the Sackler Family’s Role in the Opioid Epidemic
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, in a House Committee on Oversight and Reform Hearing examining the Sackler family’s role in fueling the national opioid epidemic, Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01) brought attention to the disproportionate harm this crisis has had on Black communities in Missouri.
Missouri has the second highest rate for opioid overdose death rate for Black people in the country. According to NoMODeaths.org, Black men in Missouri are more than three times as likely to die from an opioid overdose than white men, and Black women are about seven times more likely to die from an opioid overdose than white women. While total opioid overdose deaths in Missouri dropped by 3% between 2018 and 2019, overdose deaths among Black men rose by 15%. In St. Louis City and County, overdose deaths decreased by 8% overall in 2018 and 2019; however, overdose deaths among Black men in the St. Louis region rose by 17%.
The Congresswoman’s questioning focused on the devastating consequences of the Sackler family’s actions profiting off medication they knew was highly addictive and the harm it has had on the people, families, and communities who have died or had their lives ruined as a result of the opioid epidemic.
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A full transcript of her questioning and exchange with the witness is available below.
Transcript: Congresswoman Cori Bush at Hearing on the Sackler Family’s Role in Opioid Crisis (June 8, 2021)
CONGRESSWOMAN CORI: St. Louis and I thank you, Madam Chairwoman, for convening this all-important hearing and to the ranking member.
For St. Louis, this hearing could not be more urgent. This is a crisis that has touched so many families in my district, but its devastation has disproportionately been borne by Black families. Missouri is second only to West Virginia in the rate of opioid related overdose deaths for Black people. In Missouri, Black men are more than three times as likely to die from an opioid overdose than White men, and Black women - seven. We are seven times more likely to die than white women. Nearly 60 percent of all drug overdoses in the state occur in St. Louis, and this is a crisis that has only worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For decades, this public health crisis has been treated as a policing and incarceration crisis. People with substance and opioid use disorders have been criminalized, they’ve locked up, and cut off from services and treatment. And I’ve watched that myself. I’m not telling the story that I heard. The ongoing and racist war on drugs has been waged on Black and brown families like those in my district, all the while allowing people like the Sackler’s to evade accountability.
There should be no doubt that what the Sackler family has done is absolutely criminal. They are the chief architects of this crisis — they knew how addictive these medications were and rather than prioritizing the health and the wellbeing of others, they prioritized and enriched themselves — profiting off of the pain and suffering of other people. Thousands of lives have been lost and devastated because of a crisis that they helped to fuel.
Ms. Pleus, thank you for sharing your story. I can only imagine how difficult it is to share your family’s heartbreak story and journey in such a public way -- triggering the trauma of losing your son. Your strength and resilience is something no mother should have to have to carry, but you being here today is a testament to the families who have been harmed by this crisis, awaiting answers, and demanding the accountability.
You know, you mentioned to us that your son’s 35th birthday is tomorrow, and I’d like to honor his memory, so, briefly, if you can, can you tell us what Jeff was like before his battle with opioids? And then how the substance use changed him? Just briefly.
MS. PLEUS: Thank you so much, yes, and I couldn’t think of a better way to honor his birthday than being here today. Jeff was a really amazing kid. He was known in high school as standing up for the underdog. And so, he always had a flock of people around him and was very protective and caring of other people.
He was outgoing, charismatic, just bigger than life, like he would fill an entire space, even if there were other people around. He just took up the space with his charismatic ways. And addiction changed him in so many ways and, as I mentioned, he was in and out of jail. One of the things that I would like to mention is Jeff’s shortest stay in jail was longer than his longest stay in treatment, despite having excellent insurance, and despite our family advocating for him to get treatment, and him wanting treatment. He could not get it. You are exactly right; we are continuing to criminalize addiction in this country. The drug war is alive and well. And I would love if you - I would love to address the racism and some of the issues that you brought up, as well, but I just wanted to thank you first for the opportunity to talk about Jeff.
CONGRESSWOMAN CORI: Absolutely, and I have more for you. Because as a nurse, a community health nurse, where most of my patients were uninsured or underinsured, many of them transient or unhoused, I’ve seen firsthand how addiction harms our communities. And not that those are the only people that are hit, but the targeting that happened in those communities is unbelievable.
And like so many others, Jeff was prescribed OxyContin after an injury. He was told to take the drug every four hours, I’ve seen it. I’ve been the one giving it because the doctor ordered it, every four hours, regardless of pain, don’t let the pain get out of control, and he followed his doctor’s instructions.
Do you believe Purdue and the Sacklers are responsible for your son’s death?
MS. PLEUS: I do because that’s where it all started. You know, over the course of the past six and a half years after losing Jeff, I have questioned what might have saved him, what I could have done differently, what we all could have done differently. And, you know, the only thing that I know to come back to is if he hadn’t gotten addicted in the first place. I know he would be here today. Every other solution is a maybe. Maybe he would have survived. Maybe treatment would have helped. Maybe if he hadn’t been incarcerated, he would have survived. But the fact that he was prescribed that medication, the doctors did not educate us on the risks of that prescription, is what started it all.
CONGRESSWOMAN CORI: And I’m very sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing that because for far too long, far too many all over our country, far too many in our local district and beyond have gone without: without adequate insurance, without access to treatment and services, without trust that our system will not further criminalize them and lock them up. Far too often those people are Black and brown. And it’s imperative that we hold the Sacklers accountable, but it’s also imperative that we build systems that support Black and brown people — systems that prioritize the needs of communities over the greed of corporations and just letting them get off, like so many people I’ve heard today. It’s absolutely sad. We need systems that save lives. That is what our communities deserve.
Thank you and I yield back.
To watch and download the Congresswoman’s full exchange, click here.
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Congresswoman Cori Bush represents Missouri’s First Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. She serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. She is also a Deputy Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a proud member of the Congressional Black Caucus. She is a registered nurse, single mother, and an ordained pastor. Following the murder of Michael Brown Jr. by a now-terminated Ferguson police officer, she became a civil rights activist and community organizer fighting for justice for Black lives on the streets of Missouri and across the country.