Sacked

A few months ago, I read what is certainly one of the most important books of 2021, Empire of Pain. It was about the Sackler family, who are directly responsible for the the opioid epidemic by virtue of producing and distributing OxyContin, a highly addictive opioid-based pain killer. I talked about it here. One of the many things the Sacklers had their name on was a wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art built to house the Temple of Dendur. The Temple of Dendur is a Roman-era temple that was in Egypt. When Egypt built the Aswan Dam, they knew it would flood the Temple. So they said to the world, if anyone will pay us and move the temple, they can have it. Arthur Sackler and the Metropolitan Museum made an agreement.

This image of the Temple of Dendur comes from the Met’s website. The wing that housed it was known the Sackler Wing for many years. Arthur Sackler died in 1987. Purdue Pharma (privately owned by the Sackler family) started manufacturing OxyContin in the early 1990s. So Arthur had nothing directly to do with the opioid epidemic. Nonetheless, there has been pressure for instutions all over the world that gave the Sacklers naming rights to remove the name.

As of a few days ago, the Sackler name has been removed from the Metropolitan Museum. It may seem a bit unfair, given that Arthur was not responsible for the opioid epidemic, but as Patrick Raddon Keefe makes clear in Empire of Pain, Arthur made his fortune through the sales of Valium and Librium, which he promoted in advertising he sold, in the medical journals he published and in a royalty agreement with the manufacturers. The entire Sackler family fortune was based on hooking people on addictive drugs. So shed no tears for Arthur. He was sincerely interested in art, but was also a social climber and dedicated art-washer. I’m sure some other scumbag will give the Met a lot of money to name the former Sackler Wing.

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