The Sacklers were the people behind Purdue Pharma, also known as the creators of OxyContin, better known as the creators of the current opioid epidemic. Their story is one of philanthropy and philandering, of pioneers and thefts, of greatness and greed. When Isaac Sackler immigrated to America, he had three children and encouraged them to dream big and become doctors. The eldest son, Arthur was the dynamo who started the family in the drug business after obtaining his medical license. Arthur Sackler discovered he was really good at selling. On his own, he reinvented the way the public sold pills. It started with the ugly and arrogant sales reps who stalk the doctors. It's no secret that these pill sellers are hot young people. Free gifts, dinners for prescribers, it all started with Arthur. He has also won awards for his sales skills. What made his fortune was Valium. His brothers defeated him by using his sales techniques to promote a new drug invented by their company, a small opioid called OxyContin.

This pill was so successful that between 1999 and 2019, 500,000 Americans overdosed on it. The Sacklers knew what was going on. They claimed the drug wasn't addictive, but as their sales increased and millions piled up, they didn't care. Lawsuits that came in, but were quickly put down by teams of high-powered attorneys who would dig into the past of the plaintiff to disgrace them.

The Sackler Empire tells an all too familiar tale of a family fortune built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin.