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Purdue Pharma deal has families deflated, angry but hopeful

This photo provided by Vicki Bishop shows her son, Brian Wayne Meyer, in Clarksburg, Md, on April 17, 2017. Meyer's mother said he died of an opioid overdose/poisoning on Oct. 31, 2017. A nationwide settlement in the opioid epidemic is forcing the owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to pay up as much as $6 billion but the families still are coming away feeling empty, conflicted and angry yet again. That's because nothing will bring back any of the lives lost or hold the family behind OxyContin fully accountable in their eyes. (Vicki Bishop via AP) Lynn Wencus, of Wrentham, Mass., sits on a bench placed in her garden in remembrance of her son Jeff at her home, in Wrentham, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Wencus lost her son to a heroin overdose in 2017. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and virtually all U.S. states have agreed to a new settlement of opioid lawsuits. The deal reached Thursday, March 3, 2022, would require members of the Sackler family who own the drugmaker to pay $5.5 billion to $6 billion in cash. They also apologized. A bankruptcy judge must still approve the deal. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Lynn Wencus, of Wrentham, Mass., holds a poster, with a likeness of her son Jeff, at her home, in Wrentham, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Wencus lost her son to a heroin overdose in 2017. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and virtually all U.S. states have agreed to a new settlement of opioid lawsuits. The deal reached Thursday, March 3, 2022, would require members of the Sackler family who own the drugmaker to pay $5.5 billion to $6 billion in cash. They also apologized. A bankruptcy judge must still approve the deal. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Lynn Wencus, of Wrentham, Mass., holds a photograph of her son Jeff at her home, in Wrentham, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Wencus lost her son to a heroin overdose in 2017. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and virtually all U.S. states have agreed to a new settlement of opioid lawsuits. The deal reached Thursday, March 3, 2022, would require members of the Sackler family who own the drugmaker to pay $5.5 billion to $6 billion in cash. They also apologized. A bankruptcy judge must still approve the deal. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) FILE — Lynn Wencus of Wrentham, Mass., holds a sign for her son Jeff along with wearing a sign showing loved ones lost to OxyContin and Opioid overdoses, during a protest at Purdue Pharma headquarters in Stamford, Conn., Friday, Aug. 17, 2018. Wencus lost her son Jeff to a heroin overdose in 2017. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and virtually all U.S. states have agreed to a new settlement of opioid lawsuits. The deal reached Thursday, March 3, 2022, would require members of the Sackler family who own the drugmaker to pay $5.5 billion to $6 billion in cash. They also apologized. A bankruptcy judge must still approve the deal. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File) Liz Fitzgerald of Southington and Paige Niver of Manchester hold hands at the end of a news conference at Connecticut Attorney General William Tong's office, Thursday, March 3, 2022, in Hartford, Conn. Fitzgerald lost two sons to opioids and Niver's daughter became addicted to opioids after getting prescribed OxyContin at 14 years old. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)