I am so glad to see charges being brought in connection with Matthew Perry’s death. The accusations against the medical professionals and drug dealers are disgusting and irresponsible. But how about the others? How about people who are not rich, not famous, and not beloved by millions of Americans because they played a nice character on TV? Where are the arrests of the people who ruined their lives because they are just as much an addict as Matthew Perry?
Their deaths will be ignored. There will not be indictments of those around them who fostered their untimely deaths.
It makes me think about my late sister Suzanne. She was a normal housewife and teacher living in Virginia when a doctor during what we now know as the beginning of the opioid crisis prescribed her an opioid. It wasn’t one of the most common ones and I will refrain from saying its name, but the doctor said it was non-addictive.
It was not non-addictive.
It’s a long story, but my sister took this drug because she was having pain, she thought it was going to be a temporary bridge for that pain, and she got addicted. Truly, it was the beginning of the end of my sister’s life. It caused so many problems to this person who was not a drinker or a drug seeker. You would never have pegged her for somebody who could get addicted to opioids.
Those doctors have never been held responsible. That drug is still on the market. People still take it. And so I see these stories and I am triggered by them. The allegations suggest Perry’s doctors are in a different class, but there is a whole host of physicians who pushed these opioids and millions of unsuspecting Americans and literally ended lives and ruined lives and have never been held accountable.
It was one of the reasons why I was thrilled to see that whole Sackler family bankruptcy plan fall apart. They were trying to get out of ever being charged themselves with crimes related to Purdue Pharma and OxyContin and the judge said, ‘We’re not allowing that. We’re not going to absolve you of anything.’
There is just never going to be full accountability for the amount of damage done. This is a teaspoon in the ocean, but it’s at least a teaspoon.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 863 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.