Introduction to Overreach: The Deadly Price of Regulatory Surveillance Captured: How Medicine Became an Instrument of State Power

  1. Richard Henry Parrish II

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Abstract

This introduction to Overreach: The Deadly Price of Regulatory Surveillance explores the complex interplay between pharmaceutical knowledge, government regulation, and individual autonomy in the United States. The text argues that Americans’ unprecedented consumption of pharmaceuticals is the product of a century-long alliance between medical professionals seeking to eliminate competition and a federal government expanding its regulatory domain. This alliance forged the concepts of “pharmaceutical fact,” the regulatory structures defining drug legitimacy, and “pharmaceuticalization,” the process by which increasing aspects of human life are framed as pharmaceutical problems. These frameworks, the author contends, are not neutral but constitute a sociopolitical system that determines who has authority over medical decisions and the limits of personal autonomy. Drawing on the work of Thomas Szasz, the critique highlights the evolution of the “Therapeutic State,” where state power and medical authority become inseparably linked, resulting in surveillance, behavioral control, and exclusion from necessary medicines for those outside the system. The book traces how professional organizations, in partnership with federal agencies, used regulation to enforce their definitions of scientific fact, transforming both the nature of medicines and the roles of those who dispense them. Through the lens of Nico Stehr’s “knowledge capitalism,” the text demonstrates that pharmaceutical knowledge has been turned into monopoly property, enforced through legal and regulatory mechanisms like the FDA and international agreements such as TRIPS. This transformation, the author asserts, underlies the economic and social power of the pharmaceutical industry, shaping access to medicines and the governance of individual bodies. The introduction frames the book’s central inquiry: whether the current system serves patients or entrenches a regime of knowledge monopolism and state authority.

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  1. PREreview

    This Zenodo record is a permanently preserved version of a Structured PREreview. You can view the complete PREreview at https://prereview.org/reviews/20845031.

    Does the introduction explain the objective of the research presented in the preprint? Yes The introduction was clear and understandable.
    Are the methods well-suited for this research? Somewhat appropriate The statistics stated should be updated to recent times.
    Are the conclusions supported by the data? Somewhat supported The claims stated in the study need more substantial evidence that will authenticate them and move the study from just a scholarly article to advocacy for the vulnerable population.
    Are the data presentations, including visualizations, well-suited to represent the data? Somewhat appropriate and clear
    How clearly do the authors discuss, explain, and interpret their findings and potential next steps for the research? Very clearly It is an intelligible and provocative study.
    Is the preprint likely to advance academic knowledge? Somewhat likely This preprint enlightens and engages the mind with vast perspectives but requires stronger evidence for claims
    Would it benefit from language editing? No
    Would you recommend this preprint to others? Yes, but it needs to be improved
    Is it ready for attention from an editor, publisher or broader audience? Yes, after minor changes

    Competing interests

    The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

    Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    The authors declare that they did not use generative AI to come up with new ideas for their review.

  2. Version published to 10.20944/preprints202604.0102.v3
  3. Version published to 10.20944/preprints202604.0102.v2
  4. Version published to 10.20944/preprints202604.0102.v1