Above Photo: From Alternet.org
Demonstrators dropped thousands of white slips designed to look like OxyContin prescriptions to highlight the Sackler family’s role in fueling the opioid epidemic.
Demonstrators inside New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum staged a “die in” and dropped thousands of paper slips designed to look like of OxyContin prescriptions Saturday night to protest the facility’s ties to the billionaire Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma and has been accused of deliberately fueling the opioid epidemic for profit.
“Education facilities at the Guggenheim, including a theater and an exhibition gallery, are housed inside the 8,200-square-foot Sackler Center for Arts Education, identified by the museum as ‘a gift of the Mortimer D. Sackler Family,’” the New York Times reported.
“The cloud of white slips, created by a group founded by the photographer Nan Goldin, was a response to a recently disclosed statement by Richard Sackler, the son of a Purdue founder, who said years ago that OxyContin’s launch would be ‘followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition,’” the Times continued.
Videos of the striking demonstration quickly spread on social media:
My first trip to the Guggenheim. Sackler family made Billions pushing Oxycotin and lying about the dangers. Fuck them and their money they shouldnt be honored in museums, they should be prosecuted! #SacklersLiePeopleDie pic.twitter.com/s0CwZ5YBYF
— Charles Khan (@Charles_Darkley) February 10, 2019
Protestors staged a die-in & dropped flyers @ the #Guggenheim tonight demanding that the museum remove the name of the Sackler family, owners of @purduepharma that produces OxyContin. The pill kills ~200 people every day #OpioidEpidemic. Read more: https://t.co/UjEqeTLfYr pic.twitter.com/pRmoS3qRKY
— Andrew Kimmel (@andrewkimmel) February 10, 2019
I didn’t know what was happening today @Guggenheim as people starting yelling. An incredibly moving protest against Big Pharma @sacklerpain #sacklerpain pic.twitter.com/MB0vh5GHRF
— Krista Parry (@kristaparry) February 10, 2019
Demonstrations against the Sackler family continued outside Guggenheim Saturday night, with protesters marching with banners that read, “Shame on Sackler”:
Take to the streets. Shame on Sackler. Lock them up. @sacklerpain @Guggenheim @FEDUpRally @FacingAddiction pic.twitter.com/4gb93t4hPM
— Ryan Hampton (@RyanForRecovery) February 10, 2019