It’s not just that Purdue Pharma knew about the dangers of Oxycontin (and especially Fentanyl) long before those dangers began to manifest across swaths of America. And it’s not just that the company continued to strategize ways to push the painkillers once the risks became widely known (including seeking advice from “McKinsey & Co. on strategies to boost the drug’s sales and burnish its image, including how to ‘counter the emotional messages’ of mothers whose children overdosed”). They even considered getting into the opioid addiction treatment business. ProPublica and Stat share some secret portions of a Massachusetts lawsuit against Purdue and the Sackler family and the details are, well, painful. “Not content with billions of dollars in profits from the potent painkiller OxyContin, its maker explored expanding into an ‘attractive market’ fueled by the drug’s popularity — treatment of opioid addiction.” (It’s surprising they never considered selling body bags.)

+ Over the course of 2019, there will be opioid-related cases in states across the country. The Guardian: Boston trial opens what could be year of reckoning for executives.