Nan Goldin Ive Turned My Opioid Addiction Into Activism
The world has gone cold. We all need to step up. There are people making billions off the emotional and physical suffering of others. It's time for payback. I survived the opioid crisis. I narrowly escaped. I was isolated but I wasn't alone. When I got clean, I became aware of the numbers of bodies piling up. 42,000 people died of opioid overdoses in 2016. I became addicted to OxyContin four years ago. I began by swallowing the pill as prescribed. At first 40 milligrams was too much by the end I needed 450 mg to maintain. It's the most insidious drug I've ever met, it's the way that the need grows and grows. My life revolved entirely around getting and using, counting and recounting Oxy. I rarely left my room. Like all opiate addicts, my crippling fear of withdrawal was my guiding force. After the doctors cut me off, I turned to the street. When I ran out of money, I copped dope. I ended up snorting fentanyl. Finally, I overdosed. A year ago I went into rehab for two and a half months. I was one of the lucky ones who could afford an excellent hospital, which isn't an option for most Americans. I've been clean for a year. Getting off and staying off drugs are two different things, each extremely difficult in their own way. I'm learning to navigate unfamiliar terrain, as are so many more like me. But I have a sharpened clarity and a sense of purpose. When I got out of treatment I decided to make the personal political by telling my story and turning it into activism. My fight is against those who are responsible for the opioid crisis. I am specifically targeting the Sackler family, the private owners of Purdue Pharma who manufacture and distribute the drug most responsible for this epidemic OxyContin. The idea that a pharmaceutical company could falsely brand a pill containing opiates, the most addictive substance known to humankind, is outrageous. Editor's note For Purdue's response to Goldin, please see footnote. I read the excellent articles in the New Yorker by Patrick Keefe and Margret Talbot, who raised the question of where the activists are, like during the AIDS epidemic. I interpreted it as a call to arms. The lack of response to AIDS wiped out my community all my friends who carried my history are gone. I can't stand by and watch another generation disappear. I have started to take action by forming a group called Prescription Addiction Intervention Now  PAIN. It began in my living room, like the Silence  Death collective, which grew into ACT UP, who successfully fought the AIDS epidemic in the mid-eighties. PAIN has grown exponentially in the past months. Now my voice is not alone. My work has always started from the personal the same is true for my advocacy. I decided to push back against something I know in my body addiction. The Sacklers/Purdue built their empire like every other drug dealer exploiting the physical and emotional pain of people, knowingly getting them addicted to their product. 100+ people are dying a day. The bodies are piling up. I don't know how they can sleep at night. The Sacklers are washing their blood money on the walls and halls on museums that I once took such pleasure from, not knowing that the name on the sign was synonymous with greed. I've decided to target the Sacklers through their philanthropy. We intend to hold them accountable and put social and political pressure on them to respond. They caused this problem, now it's time for them to find the solution. Our first action was to publish a portfolio of the Sackler name on the walls of museums and institutions here in the U.S. and in London, along with a portfolio of self-portraits during my active addiction. PAIN's next action has been to start an online petition, which outlines solutions to the crisis. We are planning other actions on the ground. With each, we demand the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma admit culpability and take responsibility. They need to advertise the dangers of their products as vigorously as they once marketed them to the public. We will not stop until we see the Sackler name on treatment centers all over America and in every other territory which they have exploited. There is no time to waste.