The Sackler Trust which hands out donations from the family behind controversial painkiller OxyContin has paused all new giving amid a growing opioid crisis.
Members of the billionaire Sackler family own Purdue Pharma which markets the drug. Through their family trust they have donated millions of dollars to healthcare, education and the arts in the UK.
But the trust has faced a string of court cases and an intensifying public backlash and over OxyContin’s alleged role in prompting an addiction epidemic which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
The Sackler trust said all philanthropic giving will be suspended so that the issue “will not be a distraction for institutions that are applying for grants”. Commitments that have already been made will be honoured.
Earlier this month, the National Portrait Gallery cancelled a £1m donation from the Sackler Trust. It was quickly followed by the Tate which has accepted gifts from the Sackler’s in the past but said last week that it would not do so in future.
On Monday, the Prince’s Trust became the latest organisation to shun Sackler money.
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A soldier burns an illegal opium plantation near Pueblo Viejo in the Sierra Madre del Sur, in the southern state of Guerrero, Mexico
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Illegal opium plantation burning
Reuters
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Poppy farmer Nieves Garcia reacts next to her husband, “We are not drug traffickers, we want a dignified life,” said Garcia, who has grown poppies since she was a child. “My kids have left this place because there’s no way of getting ahead.”
Reuters
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Soldiers cut opium poppies as they destroy a field of illegal plantation
Reuters
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Clouds over the Sierra Madre del Sur
Reuters
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Poppy farmer Francisco Santiago Clemente walks with his gun on his back in a corn field
Reuters
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Opium poppies burn after being set on fire to by the army
Reuters
8/20
Soldiers arrive at the area where they found an illegal opium plantation
Reuters
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Poppy farmer Santiago Sanchez holds opium paste
Reuters
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Soldiers unload their weapons at the camp near the area where they found an illegal opium plantation
Reuters
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A soldier burns an illegal opium plantatio
Reuters
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A child sits on a sidewalk in Santa Cruz Yucucani
Reuters
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Soldiers destroy a field of illegal opium plantation
Reuters
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A woman tends to her opium poppy plant outside her house
Reuters
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A soldier waves to locals near the area
Reuters
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A soldier stands near residents as he arrives at the area where they found an illegal opium plantation
Reuters
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Soldiers camp near the area where they found an illegal opium plantation
Reuters
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Soldiers patrol the area of Pueblo Viejo
Reuters
19/20
A soldier burns an illegal opium plantation near Pueblo Viejo
Reuters
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Soldiers cut opium poppies
Reuters
1/20
A soldier burns an illegal opium plantation near Pueblo Viejo in the Sierra Madre del Sur, in the southern state of Guerrero, Mexico
Reuters
2/20
Illegal opium plantation burning
Reuters
3/20
Poppy farmer Nieves Garcia reacts next to her husband, “We are not drug traffickers, we want a dignified life,” said Garcia, who has grown poppies since she was a child. “My kids have left this place because there’s no way of getting ahead.”
Reuters
4/20
Soldiers cut opium poppies as they destroy a field of illegal plantation
Reuters
5/20
Clouds over the Sierra Madre del Sur
Reuters
6/20
Poppy farmer Francisco Santiago Clemente walks with his gun on his back in a corn field
Reuters
7/20
Opium poppies burn after being set on fire to by the army
Reuters
8/20
Soldiers arrive at the area where they found an illegal opium plantation
Reuters
9/20
Poppy farmer Santiago Sanchez holds opium paste
Reuters
10/20
Soldiers unload their weapons at the camp near the area where they found an illegal opium plantation
Reuters
11/20
A soldier burns an illegal opium plantatio
Reuters
12/20
A child sits on a sidewalk in Santa Cruz Yucucani
Reuters
13/20
Soldiers destroy a field of illegal opium plantation
Reuters
14/20
A woman tends to her opium poppy plant outside her house
Reuters
15/20
A soldier waves to locals near the area
Reuters
16/20
A soldier stands near residents as he arrives at the area where they found an illegal opium plantation
Reuters
17/20
Soldiers camp near the area where they found an illegal opium plantation
Reuters
18/20
Soldiers patrol the area of Pueblo Viejo
Reuters
19/20
A soldier burns an illegal opium plantation near Pueblo Viejo
Reuters
20/20
Soldiers cut opium poppies
Reuters
Sackler Trust chairwoman Dame Theresa Sackler said: “I am deeply saddened by the addiction crisis in America and support the actions Purdue Pharma is taking to help tackle the situation, whilst still rejecting the false allegations made against the company and several members of the Sackler family.
“The current press attention that these legal cases in the United States is generating has created immense pressure on the scientific, medical, educational and arts institutions here in the UK, large and small, that I am so proud to support.
“This attention is distracting them from the important work that they do.
“The trustees of the Sackler Trust have taken the difficult decision to temporarily pause all new philanthropic giving, while still honouring existing commitments.
“I remain fully committed to all the causes the Sackler Trust supports, but at this moment it is the better course for the Trust to halt all new giving until we can be confident that it will not be a distraction for institutions that are applying for grants.”
Since 2010, the Sackler Trust claims to have donated more than £60m in the UK.
OxyContin is an opioid that is chemically similar to morphine and diamorphine (heroin). It was released in 1996 and marketed by Purdue as a time-released capsule that presented little risk of becoming addictive.
However, lawsuits against Purdue allege that the company knew this was not true. Millions of people in the US have abused the drug and a significant proportion have moved in to heroin.
Opiods were involved in 48,000 deaths in the US in 2017, according to official figures. Purdue denies wrongdoing and has said that its products were approved by US regulators and prescribed by doctors.
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