rant · moment 4 of 18
In Defense of the Sackler Family
from The Vast Majority | The Tim Dillon Show #361 · #361
17 min
A long rant defending the Sacklers as unfairly scapegoated compared to other pharma and military-industrial players, tying in Painkiller on Netflix, his mother's past as a pharma rep, RFK Jr.'s crusade against pharma advertising, and a lengthy digression on drug use, calling for people to "handle their drugs" and stick to Percocet/Vicodin instead of OxyContin.
- Tim mounts a defense of the Sackler family, noting no one else has done so.
- The Sacklers created a product that worked too well—the problem was its own effectiveness.
- The Sackler wing at the Museum of Natural History is beautiful, raising the question of what wealthy families do with their money.
- Military industrial complex money is accepted by institutions, but pharmaceutical money from the Sacklers is rejected as tainted.
- Tim observes the Sacklers appear to be scapegoated—the only family everyone focuses on as uniquely evil.
- Tim has been sober for 12 years and advocates for realistic harm reduction rather than abstinence-only messaging.
- A friend's mother—a brilliant prostitute—taught them at 13 to handle their drugs properly, a lesson about moderation.
- When rich families collectively evict and blacklist one family, they're performing a ritual to protect their cartel while sacrificing one member.
- RFK is attacked for targeting the pharmaceutical industry because it's the most profitable in America and deeply fused with public health messaging.
- Cable news won't let RFK criticize pharma because their advertisers are pharmaceutical companies targeting ancient viewers.
- Tim enjoyed the Painkiller Netflix series and doesn't think the Sacklers are upstanding people, but neither is anyone else in that world.
Sackler familyRFK JrBoeingMuseum of Natural HistoryPainkillerConnecticut