That was the gung-ho motto of the Opioid Era in America and many companies jumped in. But Purdue embodied the era. The company’s main product—virtually its only product—was an addictive narcotic, sold with outlandish claims about its risk-free nature, targeting overworked doctors and nurse practitioners with little training in pain management, by highly incentivized salespeople in a company run by a family-dominated board who saw its annual payouts connected to that product’s sales and sought always to increase “cash flow” from the enterprise.
