Dopesick - Beth Macy Page 0,136
Goldenheim left the company in 2004.
to jail him would be virtually unprecedented: Ibid., Mark D. Pomerantz testimony, 83–91.
“the enormous benefits of OxyContin far outweigh”: Ibid., Purdue Frederick attorney, Howard Shapiro testimony, 73–83.
“unprecedented” to hold pharmaceutical corporate officers: Ibid., Randy Ramseyer testimony, 67–72.
“they didn’t seem as unhappy as those three guys”: Author interview, Ramseyer, March 17, 2016.
every American adult around the clock: 2010 data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Super Bowl ads now targeted relievers: The 2015 ad was meant to promote Movantik, a first-of-its-kind constipation drug for painkiller users, though the ad didn’t directly mention the drug. The U.S. market for treating opioid constipation is projected to reach $500 million by 2019, according to Matt Pearce, “What the Super Bowl Constipation Ad Did Not Say,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 10, 2016.
Purdue had earned over $2.8 billion: Caitlin Sullivan, “Punishing OxyContin’s Maker,” Time, July 20, 2007.
earn its way onto Forbes’s: Alex Morrell, “The OxyContin Clan: The $14 Billion Newcomer to Forbes 2015 List of Richest U.S. Families,” Forbes, July 1, 2015. The family dropped to number nineteen on the list in 2016, its estimated worth down to $13 billion, even though it had reaped some $700 million the preceding year, the magazine estimated, according to Chase Peterson-Withorn, “Fortune of Family Behind OxyContin Drops Amid Declining Prescriptions,” Forbes, June 29, 2016.
Mortimer Sackler even had a pink climbing rose: Bruce Weber, “Mortimer D. Sackler, Arts Patron, Dies at 93,” New York Times, March 31, 2010.
Arthur pioneered the idea: Jesse Kornbluth, “The Temple of Sackler,” Vanity Fair, September 1987.
put the figure as high as 56 percent: From a systematic review of Bridget A. Martell et al., “Opioid Treatment for Chronic Back Pain: Prevalence, Efficacy, and Association with Addiction,” Annals of Internal Medicine, January 2007: 116–27.
“Arthur built his own temple”: Kornbluth, “The Temple of Sackler.”
Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group: Laurence Hammack, “OxyContin Settlement a Reversal of Fortune,” Roanoke Times, May 12, 2007.
“The corporation feels no pain”: Author interview, Andrew Bassford, Jan. 16, 2016. He admitted his point of view was in the minority “and maybe even heresy” to his colleagues in the office.
The $634.5 million fine: According to Brownlee’s news release, May 10, 2007, the fine included the following directives: $276.1 million forfeited to the United States; $160 million to federal and state agencies to resolve liability for false claims made to Medicaid and other government health care programs, $130 million to resolve private civil claims; $5.3 million to the Virginia Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to fund future fraud investigations; $20 million to Virginia’s prescription monitoring program. “In addition, Purdue will pay the maximum statutory criminal fine of $500,000.” The executive fines were assessed at $19 million for Friedman, $8 million for Udell, and $7.5 million for Goldenheim, and each executive was also fined an additional $5,000.
“independent, associated companies”: Corporate Crime Reporter, “Corporate Drug Pushers,” Counterpunch, May 16, 2007, counterpunch/2007/05/16/corporate-drug-pushers/.
a decision they repeatedly appealed: Barry Meier, “Restrictions Are Upheld for Executives in OxyContin Case,” New York Times, Jan. 23, 2009.
“Plaintiffs appear to misunderstand”: Federal judge Segal Huvelle wrote in rejecting the executives’ arguments that their disbarment from doing business with taxpayer-financed health care programs should be overturned; the executives did get their initial disbarment reduced from twenty to twelve years, Meier, “Ruling Is Upheld Against Executives Tied to OxyContin,” New York Times, Dec. 15, 2010. Ramseyer said they were ultimately excluded for eight years.
But the Abingdon federal judge’s hands were tied: U.S. District Judge James Jones testimony, from the transcript of The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc., et al., 110–21.
“Opioid addiction continues to be”: Author interview, Judge James Jones, Feb. 3, 2017.
Udell went on to found the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center: Anne M. Hamilton, “Helping Veterans with Legal Problems,” Hartford Courant, Sept. 1, 2013.
the government presented zero proof: Author interview, Jeffrey Udell, April 5, 2017.
she brandished the tiny brass urn: Lee Nuss testimony, from the transcript of The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc., et al., 21–22, and author interview, Nuss, Jan. 31, 2017. Laurence Hammack is the reporter who told me he thought Nuss was going to throw the urn.
CHAPTER FIVE. SUBURBAN SPRAWL
Interviews: Chief Chris Perkins, Dr. Steve Huff, Sgt. Chad Seeberg, Dr. Jennifer Wells, Don Wolthuis, Warren Bickel, Robin Roth, Kristi Fernandez, Lt. Chuck Mason, Spencer Mumpower, Ginger Mumpower, Tony Anderson, Vinnie Dabney
the Cincinnati Enquirer became the first newspaper: Kristen Hare, “The Cincinnati Enquirer Now Has a Heroin Beat,” Poynter Institute, Feb. 15, 2016.
Viewers loved watching them: Lindsey Nair and Marques G. Harper, “Another WSLS Weatherman Admits Struggle with Heroin,”