Artist protest at Perdue Pharma @ Hyperallergic

You wouldn’t think that something as innocuous as a spoon could grow to take on gargantuan importance — unless, of course, you hold space in your life for someone who struggles with addiction. In that case, the presence of a spoon — specifically bent and burnt in a manner that accommodates the preparation of a dose — could become an 800-pound elephant in the room. On the morning of Friday, June 22, gallerist Fernando Luis Alvarez, whose eponymous galleryin Stamford, Connecticut mounted an exhibition on the opioid epidemic that opened that evening, delivered just such an elephant to the doorstep of Purdue Pharma, a major manufacturer of opioids, including OxyContin.

This blockbuster drug has made billions for Purdue, and the majority-shareholding members of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler’s families. It is identified as a gateway drug for heroin use. According to a study by the National Institute of Drug Abuse(updated in March of this year), more than 115 people in the United States die daily after overdosing on opioids, and an estimated 80% of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.

Read more here…

Artist Drops 800-Pound Heroin Spoon Outside OxyContin Manufacturer’s Headquarters