纽约时报 摧毁阿片类药物之际 普渡制药家族嗅到了新的商机(5)（在线收听）

Since OxyContin came on the market,

奥施康定上市以来，

more than 200,000 Americans have died of overdoses related to prescription opioids.

美国已经有20多万人死于处方阿片类药物过量。

As reports of overdoses grew, Richard Sackler urged the company to blame the patients.

随着过量用药的报道越来越多，理查德·萨克勒敦促该公司（赶紧）将责任推到患者身上。

"We have to hammer on abusers in every way possible," he wrote in a 2001 email disclosed in documents filed in the Massachusetts case.

马萨诸塞州案存档的文件披露，他在2001年的一封电子邮件中写道，“我们必须尽一切可能推到滥用的患者身上。”

"They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminal."

“他们才是罪魁祸首和问题所在。他们就是鲁莽的罪犯。”

That year, after a federal prosecutor highlighted 59 OxyContin-related deaths in one state,

那一年，在一位联邦检察官强调，一个州就有59人死于奥施康定（摄入过量）后，

Mr. Sackler wrote: "This is not too bad. It could have been far worse."

萨克勒写道：“并不算太糟。问题原本可能更糟的。”

The same year Purdue lawyers negotiated the federal guilty plea,

就在普渡制药的律师就联邦认罪协议展开谈判的那一年，

the Sacklers quietly formed a new company to sell generic opioids, called Rhodes,

萨克勒家族的人还悄悄地成立了一家名为“罗德”的公司，用来销售平价阿片类药物。

according to the New York lawsuit.

纽约的诉讼显示。

Rhodes was set up as a ‘landing pad’ for the Sackler family in 2007,

诉讼援引普渡制药一位前高级经理的话称，这家公司成立于2007年，

to prepare for the possibility that they would need to start afresh following the crisis, then engulfing OxyContin,

其作用是充当萨克勒家族的一个“停机坪”，

the suit quotes a former senior manager at Purdue as saying.

以防他们在针对奥施康定的这次危机结束后需要重新来过。

The Sacklers were intimately involved in overseeing and approving Rhodes’s activities, court records show.

法庭记录显示，萨克勒家族的成员直接参与了监督和批准罗德公司的工作事项。

They saw the agendas for board of directors meetings and the financial statements.

他们能够看到公司董事会会议的议程和财务报表。

In the years that followed,

在接下来的几年里，

Theresa, Kathe and Jonathan Sackler would serve on Rhodes’s governance committee, according to the New York lawsuit,

纽约的诉讼显示，特蕾莎、卡特斯和乔纳森·萨克勒还将在罗德的管理委员会任职，

while Kathe, Jonathan, Mortimer and David served on its business development committee.

凯特、乔纳森、莫蒂默和戴维则将在罗德的商业发展委员会任职。

The business operations of Rhodes, based in Rhode Island, and Purdue, based in Connecticut, were closely enmeshed.

总部位于罗德岛的罗德公司的商业运作和总部位于康涅狄格的普渡制药的商业运作有着紧密的联系。

Rhodes relied on Purdue to oversee its compliance with government regulations,

罗德需要依赖普渡制药监督其遵守政府规定的情况，

ensuring the quality and safety of its products,

以确保其产品的质量和安全，

the New York lawsuit says,

纽约州的诉讼显示，

providing, for example, statistics and data to Rhodes’s compliance committee for review.

为罗德的监察委员会提供审查用的统计数据。