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As Heroin Use by Whites Soars, Parents Urge Gentler Drug War
- clock_tower 11y agoIf the new heroin users tend to be less violent than the old, there's a case for being gentler... although I can't help but wonder whether there might be some substance behind the NYT's clickbait-y racial angle on the matter. Large-scale use of heroin is pretty terrifying, regardless. Remember that the Japanese made heroin legal and cheap in China during WWII, as a way of ruining the Chinese people... It's unsettling to see the US paying through the nose for the privilege of similar self-destruction.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- gxs 11y agoThis is hilarious. First the media beats the drum of, the drug war is evil, the drug war is costing us millions, the drug war is ineffective, people need treatment not incarceration..they've been running this campaign for years. Now that people are waking up to this fact, we're going to chalk it up to plain old racism. Give me a break.
- linuxkerneldev 11y ago> Now that people are waking up to this fact, we're going to chalk it up to plain old racism. Racism was a significant component of the drug war from the beginning. The article doesn't seek to "chalk it up to plain old racism", rather the article seeks to shed light on some of the racial aspects of policy making. http://www.drugpolicy.org/race-and-drug-war http://www.drugpolicy.org/race-and-drug-war
- Spooky23 11y agoYour link doesn't support the assertion. Yes, crackdowns on crack cocaine impacted minorities much more proportionally. But remember that the "innovation" associated with crack was the cheap nature of it. A fast high for $10. Overall drug consumers have always trended white. Police resources are focused on sales, which happens in cities. Retail drug operations are designed around the laws, so the retail frontline people get swept up as users (because they carry small quantities), which impacts minority users harder.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- dragontamer 11y agoSomewhat, because African Americans explicitly asked for harsh anti-drug laws in their communities. http://i.imgur.com/NkyayV0.jpg http://i.imgur.com/NkyayV0.jpg The country was (more) racist back then, but we can't forget that the Black community was the first anti-drug community. Harsh drug laws were just how things were done back then.
- nickgrosvenor 11y agoTotally. This quote from the article illustrates its assumptions. "But today, with heroin ravaging largely white communities in New England, the Northeast and the Midwest, and with violent crime largely down, the mood is more forgiving." Wow, that escalated fast.
- joesmo 11y agoI don't see why both factors can't be at play since they are in reality.
- task_queue 11y agoReminder that people only started caring about police brutality when it became common knowledge that the cops could break down your door and shoot your dog with impunity. The decades of brutality against the poor and racial minorities before that triggered no such reaction and was applauded by many.
- mc32 11y agoRather than framing this with a racial lens, why not look at this as evolutionary change in policy given the evidence on europe and numerous studies showing zero tolerance as being counterproductive. Coke, shroom, acid, horse users (midfle class)in past decades were dealt the same zero tolerance policies with no effect, this surge is seeing a different response in light of new acceptance of recreational drugs and in light of the failures of past policies. But you know the NYT will get more views and reactions by framing it as racial.... But then they fail to look at policies in Latin America or Africa which are equally punishing, not to mention homogenous places like Japan and china where punishment is harsher and there are no minorities to oppress. Is the NYT suggesting we go back to zero tolerance? It used to be said sex sells, now it's race sells.
- joesmo 11y agoMaybe because part of the evolutionary change in policy comes from white people complaining, an act that's futile when done by minorities in this country?
- mc32 11y agoPeople including whites, hippies, etc. had been complaining since at least the 70s. We bad similar policies in white countries, we still have them in Asian countries and African countries. Just because you see coincidence does not indicate cause.
- striking 11y agoIt's such a common fallacy that there's even a Wikipedia article about it! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_cau... I agree. Race has nothing to do with this.
- task_queue 11y agoA small subset complained, but the majority voted for politicians who were vocal about their intentions to implement harsh laws that would impact the poor and racial minorities. They also voted for judges and DAs who voiced their intention to uphold a zero tolerance policy. They've done this consistently for decades.
- fluxquanta 11y agoI was following along through this article right up until the final line: >Right now she just wants to hunt down the person who sold Chris his fatal dose. “These dealers aren’t just selling it,” she said. “They’re murdering people.” Drug dealers are selling the drugs not out of some kind of malice toward the addicts. The users want drugs, the dealers want money. Killing the users does no good to the dealers. While it's hard to criticize the thoughts of a greiving mother, the focus should not be "let's punish these awful murderers!" but instead "let's find ways to eliminate the demand for drugs".
- striking 11y agoI totally agree. Drug use isn't a disease to society, it's a symptom with an underlying cause. (I didn't get that far, I stopped earlier.)
- pmoriarty 11y agoI don't agree that we should eliminate the demand for drugs. It's really none of your business what people choose to do with their own minds or bodies, or what substances they choose to use, and you have no business trying to manipulate their desires. What is needed: 1 - Legalization and regulation like that of regular prescription and over-the-counter drugs to: 1a - Make sure drugs are pure, labeled property and are not mixed with undesired compounds. 1b - Stop imprisoning and killing people over what they choose to do to their own minds and bodies. 1c - Stop the violence and corruption caused by the illegal drug trade. 2 - Much better education about how to use drugs safely and constructively. 3 - An end to the stigmatization of drug users. 4 - A sincere and well thought-through tackling of the issues (like poverty and mental health issues) that lead to self-destructive abuses of drugs and other substances.
- fluxquanta 11y agoThe typical libertarian argument, huh? I don't necessarily disagree, but there's no chance this would ever happen with drugs like heroin. Marijuana, sure, but you're dreaming if you think the libertarian treatment of "hard drugs" is possible in our lifetimes. There is a chance, however, that we can actually tackle the issue realistically and improve the ease of access to mental health services and community programs that decrease the demand for the drugs in the first place, thereby removing the incentive for dealers to sell the stuff. It's literally basic economic theory.
- gotchange 11y agoWas this gentler Drug War demand voiced in response to the perceived failure of the combative zero-tolerance policy instituted and declared before or this is just another instance of white privilege? I'd go for the more logical theory. More importantly, I'm still opposed to the recreational use of strong drugs like heroin or cocaine as they're very lethal and can destroy families and communities pretty easily and I can't see any good use of them.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- a3voices 11y agoAre you opposed to alcohol use as well? Because the danger is relatively the same.
- gotchange 11y agoAlcohol and strongly addictive drugs are not the same. You can consume alcohol moderately without jeopardizing your health (Even wine and to lesser extent beer is reported to be good for your health overall) while on the other hand, cocaine or heroin have a tremendous net negative effect on your health.
- task_queue 11y agoYou're drawing a line that doesn't exist. By all means, alcohol is an addictive hard drug with withdrawals that can actually kill or cause long-term brain damage. The only other class of drugs that have the same dangerous withdrawal are benzodiazepines, which target the GABA system. Alcohol is dirty in comparison, touching your GABAergic, serotonergic, dopaminergic, opioid and glutamate systems in your brain. You can overdose and die from consuming too much alcohol, which is not the case if you consumed too much marijuana or benzodiazepines (by themselves). Of course, if we define moderate use of a substance as the level of consumption where health effects are little to none, you can consume something without jeopardizing your health. You seem to be implying that either heroin or cocaine cannot be consumed in moderation (which is false[0][1]), or that their moderate consumption is tremendously bad for your health. If it's the latter, prescription opioids and stimulants like methylphenidate can be taken in moderation with limited health effects. Many prescription opioids are very chemically similar to heroin. All prescription opioids work primarily via the same mechanism as heroin. Heroin is used in a medical context under the name diamorphine. [0] http://jod.sagepub.com/content/13/2/219.abstract http://jod.sagepub.com/content/13/2/219.abstract [1] http://www.doctordeluca.com/Library/AbstinenceHR/ControlledHeroinUseEvidence05.pdf http://www.doctordeluca.com/Library/AbstinenceHR/ControlledH...
- mfoy_ 11y agoThere was a neat video about addiction on Reddit recently, here's a link to the discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/3qp6sa/ https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/3qp6sa/ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8L-0nSYzg Disclaimer: The video itself is a bit hyperbolic and some of the examples and ideas presented are not 100% accurate, but it does support a treatment-first approach to addiction.
- tonomics 11y agoI don't understand the need to use the word 'Whites'. Heroin has spiked and whites correspond to ~70-80% of the population, so obviously there will be many white addicts. The 'Drug War' exists to fight heroin usage overall; it's not targeted at a race.
- task_queue 11y agoBecause heroin sale and use was mostly confined to poor and minority communities. Now a different population is consuming them that happens to be white and suburbanite.
- ohitsdom 11y agoA lot of comments here seem against the "racial angle" of looking at the drug war. But the fact is that the majority of drug users are white, and the majority of the incarcerated are black. I don't think you can address either issue independently.