The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. September 2, 2021 Judge Approves $4.5 Billion Settlement, Shielding Sackler Family from Future Opioid Lawsuits -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved a settlement that will dissolve Purdue Pharma, maker of the highly addictive opioid Oxy Contin, while ordering the Sackler family to pay more than $4.5 billion over the next decade. The agreement shields the Sacklers from future litigation over their role in fueling the opioid crisis, which has killed over a half-million people across the U.S. In a statement, Public Citizen blasted the settlement, saying, "Allowing the billionaires at the root of the opioid crisis to walk free while thousands of its victims are in prison is a catastrophic injustice." .