When a Qatari sheikh came to live in L.A., an entire economy sprouted to meet his wishes. “His highness doesn’t like to hear no,” one associate told a professor.

As business declines amidst an opioid epidemic in America, Purdue Pharma’s owners the Sackler family are pursuing a new strategy: putting OxyContin in medicine cabinets around the world.

Purdue Pharma’s marketing materials say OxyContin works for 12 hours. It doesn’t. And this problem, long-denied by the drugmaker, is what makes it highly addictive.