The pharmaceutical company that allegedly inflamed the opioid crisis is finally being held accountable, and its reckoning has come, in part, from an unlikely source: the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Met will no longer accept donations from members of the Sackler family still associated with Purdue Pharma, which has been accused of misrepresenting the painkiller OxyContin to get more doctors to prescribe the addictive narcotic.
Last week, the New York City museum joined other galleries, such as New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and London’s National Portrait Gallery, that have already cut ties with the Sackler family.
The decision comes as five states are suing Purdue Pharma for its alleged mischaracterization of OxyContin, a drug that has played a key role in the opioid epidemic that kills about 130 people in America each day. In West Virginia, which has the highest rate of deaths from opioid overdose, physicians authorized more than 80 opioid prescriptions per 100,000 people in 2017.
Some lawsuits, such as West Virginia’s, name one or more members of the Sackler family, as evidence suggests some of them may have transferred billions of dollars from the company into their own accounts.
It might seem a little odd that the solution to tanking Purdue Pharma is to refuse to take its money. But the Met’s move is an important step toward changing public opinion, and the momentum shouldn’t stop there.
If they want to alleviate the opioid crisis in this country, art institutions find themselves in a difficult but powerful position. Other museums that have accepted donations from the Sackler family in the past, such as the Metropolitan Opera and the Dia Art Foundation, should follow the Met’s move. These art institutions are uniquely poised to make a compelling statement about public health and private responsibility, and they should jump at the opportunity.
