Guggenheim Museum will no longer accept gifts from Sackler family, makers of opioid OxyContin

[Judi Lynn]

Source: ABC News

The opioid epidemic kills more than 100 people each day in the U.S.
By Mark Osborne 3h ago

Despite having their name on the museum's education center, the Guggenheim said it will no longer be accepting gifts from the Sackler family, according to a statement given to ABC News on Saturday. The Sacklers own Purdue Pharma, the makers of the powerful and addictive painkiller OxyContin.

The rejection of the wealthy pharmaceutical name isn't the biggest problem facing the Sacklers -- the company is reportedly exploring bankruptcy as a way to protect itself against million-dollar lawsuits -- but it is a shot at the societal standing of the billionaire family.

"The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum received a total of $7 million in gifts from members of the Mortimer D. Sackler family initiated in 1995 and paid out through 2006 to establish and support the Sackler Center for Arts Education, which serves approximately 300,000 youth, adults, and families each year," the museum said in a statement.

It added, "An additional $2 million was received between 1999 and 2015 to support the museum. No contributions from the Sackler family have been received since 2015. No additional gifts are planned, and the Guggenheim does not plan to accept any gifts."

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/guggenheim-museum-longer-accept-gifts-sackler-family-makers/story?id=61904377

[Judi Lynn]

1. 'This is blood money': Tate shuns Sacklers - and others urged to follow

'This is blood money': Tate shuns Sacklers – and others urged to follow
Joanna Walters in New York
@Joannawalters13
Sun 24 Mar 2019 01.00 EDT

Earlier this year at the Guggenheim in New York, activists objecting to donations from the Sackler family draped protest banners from the museum’s famous spiraling balconies, dropped flyers down through the atrium and pretended to die all over the floor. A gobsmacked public looked on.

. . .

On Thursday, the Tate group announced it would not take any more donations from the Sacklers, the family whose most prominent billionaire members own the company that makes OxyContin, a prescription painkiller implicated in America’s opioids crisis.

The company, Purdue Pharma, and eight leading Sackler family members are being investigated and sued, accused of knowingly misleading the public about the dangers of OxyContin and profiting from sales and marketing strategies that deceived doctors and rewarded them for over-prescribing the drug.

Those cases are drawing increasing attention, as are protests by activists who want arts and academic institutions in the US, UK and elsewhere to eschew Sackler money.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/mar/24/sackler-money-tate-modern-art-nan-goldin-oxycontin

[LuvNewcastle]

2. I'm not sure this is such a good idea.

If the money would be put to good use, why not take it? So many wealthy families out there have made their fortunes from slavery, war, and other forms of human degradation, yet their money isn't refused by anyone, certainly not by politicians. I guess if the Guggenheim won't take the money, maybe they'll donate it to equally deserving but lesser known institutions, so maybe this is good. But the Guggenheim probably wouldn't even be there if they refused donations from all the families with ill-gotten gains.

[dhol82]

7. Always loved this quote:

Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.
Honore de Balzac

[LuvNewcastle]

10. Yeah, I like that one too.

[ck4829]

3. Very cool. K&R

[elleng]

4. an important step.

We, society, DO have to assert our values loud and clear, not something we've felt a need to do in the past.

[qwlauren35]

5. Just curious.

what is the alternative to oxycontin for addressing severe pain?

[dhol82]

8. I think the problem was they knew it could be abused and still peddled it as safe

The reps were selling it like crazy to the docs. That’s along with a bunch of perks.

[steventh]

9. well done Amanpour & Company interview about OxyContin, big Pharma and Sacklers

I found the recent PBS interview of Beth Macy, author of Dopesick, very interesting. Sixteen minute video includes details about early history of the opioid crisis, how big Pharma aggressively promoted OxyContin, and the Sackler family relationship with the Metropolitan Museum.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/author-beth-macy-wts4ps/