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OxyContin and a Regulation Deficiency of the Pharmaceutical Industry: Rethinking State-Corporate Crime

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Abstract

On May 10, 2007, three executives of the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma pled guilty in federal court to misleading doctors and patients about the risk of addiction and potential for abuse of OxyContin. Additionally, Purdue Pharma paid over $600 million in fines and other payments to the United States government and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The drug OxyContin was first introduced to the market in December of 1995. Warning signs of the drug’s potential for abuse were almost immediate, and there were reports of copious amounts of the drug being diverted into the black market for recreational use. In some cases, criminologists have argued that if the government fails to protect its citizens from the harm of a corporation then such behavior should be considered state-corporate crime. We critically evaluate the case of OxyContin to see if it falls under the state-corporate crime paradigm. Further, we argue the state-corporate crime paradigm can benefit from an increased focus on the organizational structures of regulation agencies.

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Notes

  1. This is evident in the Savings and Loan Industry (Calavita and Pontell 1990).

  2. Measured by highest grossing profits.

  3. For a different and more comprehensive account of the Challenger explosion see Vaughan (1990) and Vaughan (1996). She does not use the word “crime” in her analysis of the events leading up to the Challenger disaster. See also Perrow (1999). He argues that as we embrace technologies that are more complex, accidents will occur, a phrase he refers to as “normal accidents.”

  4. Although pharmaceutical advertisements are no doubt more visible in contemporary times, such tactics have been around since the birth of the industry (Spillane 2000; Courtwright 2001).

  5. Libby (2008) argues that wrongdoing surrounding many pain clinics were overly sensationalized by the media and the product of overambitious prosecutors and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents persecuting respectable physicians for not being able to determine if patients were doctor-shopping or legitimate pain cases. He further argues that the main push to crack down on prescription drugs was a way to distract the country from the failing war on illegal drugs. Jung and Reidenberg (2007) and Reidenberg and Willis (2007) have drawn similar conclusions.

  6. Considering the clinic specialized in pain management this should not have been a surprise though.

  7. OxyContin is the only prescription drug inquired about by brand name. Lifetime use of OxyContin in 2008 was 4,842 as compared to: pain relievers (34,861), tranquilizers (21,476), methamphetamine (12,598), marijuana (102,404), cocaine (36,773), LSD (23,547), and PCP (6,631) (SAMHSA 2009).

  8. Several other states received varying amounts from the settlement as well.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminal Justice, The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA

    O. Hayden Griffin III

  2. Justice Studies, Department of Political Science, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA

    Bryan Lee Miller

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  1. O. Hayden Griffin III
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  2. Bryan Lee Miller
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Correspondence to O. Hayden Griffin III.

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Griffin, O.H., Miller, B.L. OxyContin and a Regulation Deficiency of the Pharmaceutical Industry: Rethinking State-Corporate Crime. Crit Crim 19, 213–226 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-010-9113-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-010-9113-9

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