Are Drug Money Donations Blood Money?

 

Institutions around the world depend on donations from those who support their causes. While modest donations from the rank-and file folk are appreciated, big-bucks gifts from families and their foundations. For some reason I get a kick out of the regular reminder on PBS of support from Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III. That's a hefty name!

 

Of course these significant donations often include name recognition in the credits, as with PBS, and even on particular rooms in museums or the building itself -- think of the Guggenheim in New York City.

 

Also in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a Sackler Wing in recognition of the wealthy family which has funded this venerable institution and others for decades. However, the Met has announced that it will no longer take money from the Sacklers to reflect the growing outrage over the role the Sacklers may have played in the opioid crisis through their pharmaceutical company. Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers are the accused in lawsuits claiming that the company oversold the efficacy of the drug, OxyContin, while downplaying the risk of addiction. Essentially the claim is that Purdue has hooked untold thousands in the US and Canada and elsewhere on drugs which destroy lives and have resulted in the deaths of many. It's not an exaggeration to say that opioid addiction is a health crisis in the US.

 

 

The Met decision is a big deal and Daniel Weiss, the president, played nice in making the announcement: “The museum takes a position of gratitude and respect to those who support us, but on occasion, we feel it’s necessary to step away from gifts that are not in the public interest, or in our institution’s interest. That is what we’re doing here.”

 

When I did my chaplaincy internship in Kingston Penitentiary 40 years ago there were inmates serving time for petty drug dealing of substances such as marijuana, as well as more hardcore dealers. We assume that the worst of drug dealers should be punished for their illegal activities, although some of those young men shouldn't have been in prison.

 

Through my years of ministry there were members of congregations or their family members who struggled with addictions, including opioids. It will be interesting to see if those who manufacture drugs will be held accountable. This is a moral and ethical challenge for our culture, as well as a legal one. We can hope that justice is served.

 

Thoughts?