Apparently, you can now get charged with a felony if you drop off a spoon in front of a building.
Granted, this was no ordinary spoon. This was an elegant 10-foot long, 800-pound full metal sculpture of a heroin spoon twisted upon itself. The work of art, hand-crafted by Domenic Esposito, a Boston-based artist, appears to embody the mind-bending, soul-disfiguring effects of heroin addiction. And it was placed in front of a certain building to send a message.
Gallery Owner Fights For Justice
Fernando Luis Alvarez, the owner of the Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery in Stamford, Connecticut, dropped the sculpture off in front of the headquarters of Purdue Pharma in order to bring attention to the opioid epidemic in the country and, more specifically, to stoke a movement to bring those responsible for it to justice. Purdue Pharma is the corporation that began in 1996 flooding the streets of the United States with the drug Oxycontin.
Placing the sculpture — which Esposito says would have been even bigger, had he not needed to transport it to Connecticut in his trailer — in front of Purdue’s headquarters was meant to underscore that many heroin users first get hooked on prescription painkillers. Esposito’s brother, who has struggled with addiction for 14 years, is one such person.
“The spoon is a symbol of darkness. It brings back some negative emotions for me,” said Esposito, in relation to his experiences of the addiction of his brother, seen above on the left helping to unload the sculpture. Esposito adds that the sculpture was ‘a way to channel those feelings into something productive.’
Opioid-Themed Art Show At The Gallery
Dropping off the sculpture at the headquarters of Purdue Pharma coincided with an opioid-related show at Alvarez’ art gallery, which features some of Esposito’s work. And there was a particular reason he brought Esposito’s artwork out into the streets. Alvarez told TIME that the stunt was meant to send a message to Purdue Pharma and to hold the company accountable for what he says are its contributions to the country’s opioid epidemic.
“The bigger picture, which both Domenic and I really clicked on, is the importance of creating awareness for the right type of accountability. The justice department and the country has to start putting some of these people behind bars, because they go on and make a lot of money and then they pay a fine and so be it. That is just not the way it should be.”–Art Gallery Owner Fernando Luis Alvarez
Alvarez adds that he’s not concerned about consequences associated with the protest, including the criminal charges he already faces.
“I’ll take the hit. I’ll take the charges. When I represent an artist, I’m all in. I was just laser-sharp focused in seeing that sculpture there and making sure society and the media would actually get our movement going, with that spoon being a symbol of the true accountability and the true conversations we need to be having about this.”
To be clear, Alvarez and Esposito are not just starting a movement. They are galvanizing anti-Pharma sentiments that are already in the public discourse due to decades of illness, crippling addictions and death by overdose that has affected so many.
Lawsuits Already Filed
Just this year, different Connecticut cities and the state of Massachusetts filed lawsuits against Purdue for misleading the public about the dangers of Oxycontin. The main issue with Purdue, according to this article on Purdue’s impact on the opiod epidemic, was the way the drug was marketed, replete with half-truths to the public and large incentives for its salespeople:
In 1996 Purdue Pharma introduced a new drug – a time-released formulation of oxycodone, an opioid painkiller. Oxycontin, as the drug was called, was touted as having a low risk of addiction.
Purdue backed Oxycontin with an aggressive marketing campaign. Key components of this effort were pain-management and speaker-training conferences in sunshine states such as California and Florida, attended by more than 5,000 physicians, nurses and pharmacists, many of whom were recruited to serve on Purdue’s speakers’ bureau.
The company also used a bonus system to incentivize its pharmaceutical representatives to increase Oxycontin sales. The average bonus exceeded the representatives’ annual salaries.
In the United States, ultra strong 60 or 80-milligram Oxycontin pills from Purdue Pharma prescribed to old people in severe pain would often get into the hands of young people who knew about its powerful effects. And when they no longer could access the Oxycontin, they would inevitably seek out heroin on the street to satisfy their growing addiction.
Carefully Orchestrated System
The distribution of powerful opioids onto the public, whether through the ‘legal’ dispensation of pharmaceutical drugs or the ‘illegal’ heroin drug trade, is promulgated by the Deep State, who are the main beneficiaries both of the sales of these products and its effects on people in our society. There is nothing ‘senseless’ about opioid addiction, it is part of a carefully orchestrated system to maintain power and control for the Deep State. The sooner that we, as a collective, wake up to this two-pronged attack on our personal sovereignty, and help to prevent friends and loved ones from becoming ensnared in these insidious traps, the sooner that we will build up our strength and take back control of our lives and our collective path to freedom.
Let’s applaud the efforts of Fernando Luis Alvarez and Domenic Esposito for using art and creativity to bring this matter to our attention.