In 2018, Massachusetts joined more than two dozen other states in suing Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, for “the harm they inflicted in our state” by helping to drive the current opioid crisis. Drawing particular atten-tion to the actions of the family that controls the company, the Sacklers, the case against Purdue has been framed in terms of un-conscionable corporate (and indi-vidual) profit at the expense of the public’s health — chief ly through the manipulation of prescribing practices and of the approach to pain recommended in clinical journals, medical curricula, and professional guidelines.