Daily Briefing, June 23
His protest was a work of art
An 800-pound, nearly 11-foot steel sculpture of a bent and burned drug spoon was placed Friday in front of the Connecticut headquarters of drugmaker Purdue Pharma as part of an art protest against the opioid crisis. Artist Domenic Esposito and art gallery owner Fernando Alvarez dropped the sculpture at the company’s Stamford headquarters. Police arrested Alvarez on a minor charge of obstructing free passage. Several state and local governments are suing Purdue Pharma for allegedly using deceptive marketing to boost sales of its opioid painkiller OxyContin, deceiving patients and doctors about the risks of opioids.