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Yep, the new face of heroin is white and affluent. While I'm all for the evidence based, treatment focused approach to addiction that this has brought about, i

Yep, the new face of heroin is white and affluent. While I'm all for the evidence based, treatment focused approach to addiction that this has brought about, isn't it a little telling that we only switched from punishment to treatment when white people started shooting dope?

GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago
And what are the odds of switching back once the fashion moves on from heroin?
- onetwotree 11y ago
  Hopefully low. The treatment focused approach works, and so once people see this they'll keep it even after the white suburban community gets over it's heroin problem.
  - knowaveragejoe 11y ago
    This smug commentary is shameful. There are a variety of factors involved in this problem and why until relatively recently an interdiction approach has been taken over treatment. It afflicts all demographics in the country. Get over yourself.
    - nomat 11y ago
      I think it's quite telling that only one top level comment mentions the race of the drug users, and is at the bottom of the page. Even the article itself avoids the topic although it includes statistics of all kinds.
    - onetwotree 11y ago
      I don't understand your insulting tone. What do you find smug about this comment? That white people are the primary victims in the nations current epidemic? That's a simple fact. The primary reason that black people were spared this time around is simply that doctors are significantly less likely to prescribe opiate painkillers to black folks (a bit of a positive effect of stereotypes about criminality).
      - knowaveragejoe 11y ago
        If you're not picking up the smugness in his two comments then you must have a tough time with reading comprehension. Aside from that, it's not a white issue at all. Opiate addiction, including heroin, afflicts all communities, and in particular those of lesser means.
gozur88 11y ago
>Yep, the new face of heroin is white and affluent. Have another look at the maps. It's white and poor.
- CPLX 11y ago
  And that is not a coincidence. People take heroin as a palliative for bleak life prospects. After a few decades of globalization life sucks for rural poor whites in much the same way it sucked for inner city blacks in the 70's.
  - finid 11y ago
    > After a few decades of globalization life sucks for rural poor whites in much the same way it sucked for inner city blacks in the 70's. That may be interpreted as, live for inner city blacks is now better than for rural poor whites. Otherwise, we should be seeing the same OD death rates across both populations. Or there's something that's not being reported correctly regarding this issue in the black community.
    - e15ctr0n 11y ago
      See 'Drug Overdoses Propel Rise in Mortality Rates of Young Whites' http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/science/drug-overdoses-propel-rise-in-mortality-rates-of-young-whites.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/science/drug-overdoses-pro... > Drug overdoses are driving up the death rate of young white adults in the United States to levels not seen since the end of the AIDS epidemic more than two decades ago — a turn of fortune that stands in sharp contrast to falling death rates for young blacks > Yet overdose deaths for young adult blacks have edged up only slightly. Over all, the death rate for blacks has been steadily falling, largely driven by a decline in deaths from AIDS. > There is a reason that blacks appear to have been spared the worst of the narcotic epidemic, said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, a drug abuse expert. Studies have found that doctors are much more reluctant to prescribe painkillers to minority patients, worrying that they might sell them or become addicted. “The answer is that racial stereotypes are protecting these patients from the addiction epidemic,” said Dr. Kolodny
  - 11y ago
finid 11y ago
Whites, like blacks, have always been shooting dope. The racism implied in your comment is rooted in having harsher jail sentences for using/possessing drugs preferred by blacks. That's a fact. Obama and Holder tried to address this not too long ago. I don't know how far they took it.
e15ctr0n 11y ago
An earlier article in The New York Times touches on this aspect: 'In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs' | Oct. 30, 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/us/heroin-war-on-drugs-parents.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/us/heroin-war-on-drugs-par... > When the nation’s long-running war against drugs was defined by the crack epidemic and based in poor, predominantly black urban areas, the public response was defined by zero tolerance and stiff prison sentences. But today’s heroin crisis is different. While heroin use has climbed among all demographic groups, it has skyrocketed among whites; nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white. > "today, with heroin ravaging largely white communities in the Northeast and Midwest, and with violent crime largely down, the mood is more forgiving. “Both the image and reality is that this is a white and often middle-class problem,” said Mr. Mauer of the Sentencing Project. “And appropriately so, we’re having a much broader conversation about prevention and treatment, and trying to be constructive in responding to this problem. This is good. I don’t think we should lock up white kids to show we’re being equal.” > And in one of the most striking shifts in this new era, some local police departments have stopped punishing many heroin users. In Gloucester, Mass., those who walk into the police station and ask for help, even if they are carrying drugs or needles, are no longer arrested. Instead, they are diverted to treatment, despite questions about the police departments’ unilateral authority to do so. It is an approach being replicated by three dozen other police departments around the country. “How these policies evolve in the first place, and the connection with race, seems very stark,” said Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, which examines racial issues in the criminal justice system. > “This new turn to a more compassionate view of those addicted to heroin is welcome,” said Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, who specializes in racial issues at Columbia and U.C.L.A. law schools. “But,” she added, “one cannot help notice that had this compassion existed for African-Americans caught up in addiction and the behaviors it produces, the devastating impact of mass incarceration upon entire communities would never have happened.”

GFK_of_xmaspast 11y ago

And what are the odds of switching back once the fashion moves on from heroin?

onetwotree 11y ago
Hopefully low. The treatment focused approach works, and so once people see this they'll keep it even after the white suburban community gets over it's heroin problem.
- knowaveragejoe 11y ago
  This smug commentary is shameful. There are a variety of factors involved in this problem and why until relatively recently an interdiction approach has been taken over treatment. It afflicts all demographics in the country. Get over yourself.
  - nomat 11y ago
    I think it's quite telling that only one top level comment mentions the race of the drug users, and is at the bottom of the page. Even the article itself avoids the topic although it includes statistics of all kinds.
  - onetwotree 11y ago
    I don't understand your insulting tone. What do you find smug about this comment? That white people are the primary victims in the nations current epidemic? That's a simple fact. The primary reason that black people were spared this time around is simply that doctors are significantly less likely to prescribe opiate painkillers to black folks (a bit of a positive effect of stereotypes about criminality).
    - knowaveragejoe 11y ago
      If you're not picking up the smugness in his two comments then you must have a tough time with reading comprehension. Aside from that, it's not a white issue at all. Opiate addiction, including heroin, afflicts all communities, and in particular those of lesser means.

gozur88 11y ago

>Yep, the new face of heroin is white and affluent. Have another look at the maps. It's white and poor.

CPLX 11y ago
And that is not a coincidence. People take heroin as a palliative for bleak life prospects. After a few decades of globalization life sucks for rural poor whites in much the same way it sucked for inner city blacks in the 70's.
- finid 11y ago
  > After a few decades of globalization life sucks for rural poor whites in much the same way it sucked for inner city blacks in the 70's. That may be interpreted as, live for inner city blacks is now better than for rural poor whites. Otherwise, we should be seeing the same OD death rates across both populations. Or there's something that's not being reported correctly regarding this issue in the black community.
  - e15ctr0n 11y ago
    See 'Drug Overdoses Propel Rise in Mortality Rates of Young Whites' http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/science/drug-overdoses-propel-rise-in-mortality-rates-of-young-whites.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/science/drug-overdoses-pro... > Drug overdoses are driving up the death rate of young white adults in the United States to levels not seen since the end of the AIDS epidemic more than two decades ago — a turn of fortune that stands in sharp contrast to falling death rates for young blacks > Yet overdose deaths for young adult blacks have edged up only slightly. Over all, the death rate for blacks has been steadily falling, largely driven by a decline in deaths from AIDS. > There is a reason that blacks appear to have been spared the worst of the narcotic epidemic, said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, a drug abuse expert. Studies have found that doctors are much more reluctant to prescribe painkillers to minority patients, worrying that they might sell them or become addicted. “The answer is that racial stereotypes are protecting these patients from the addiction epidemic,” said Dr. Kolodny
- 11y ago

finid 11y ago

Whites, like blacks, have always been shooting dope. The racism implied in your comment is rooted in having harsher jail sentences for using/possessing drugs preferred by blacks. That's a fact. Obama and Holder tried to address this not too long ago. I don't know how far they took it.

e15ctr0n 11y ago

An earlier article in The New York Times touches on this aspect: 'In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs' | Oct. 30, 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/us/heroin-war-on-drugs-parents.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/us/heroin-war-on-drugs-par... > When the nation’s long-running war against drugs was defined by the crack epidemic and based in poor, predominantly black urban areas, the public response was defined by zero tolerance and stiff prison sentences. But today’s heroin crisis is different. While heroin use has climbed among all demographic groups, it has skyrocketed among whites; nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white. > "today, with heroin ravaging largely white communities in the Northeast and Midwest, and with violent crime largely down, the mood is more forgiving. “Both the image and reality is that this is a white and often middle-class problem,” said Mr. Mauer of the Sentencing Project. “And appropriately so, we’re having a much broader conversation about prevention and treatment, and trying to be constructive in responding to this problem. This is good. I don’t think we should lock up white kids to show we’re being equal.” > And in one of the most striking shifts in this new era, some local police departments have stopped punishing many heroin users. In Gloucester, Mass., those who walk into the police station and ask for help, even if they are carrying drugs or needles, are no longer arrested. Instead, they are diverted to treatment, despite questions about the police departments’ unilateral authority to do so. It is an approach being replicated by three dozen other police departments around the country. “How these policies evolve in the first place, and the connection with race, seems very stark,” said Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, which examines racial issues in the criminal justice system. > “This new turn to a more compassionate view of those addicted to heroin is welcome,” said Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, who specializes in racial issues at Columbia and U.C.L.A. law schools. “But,” she added, “one cannot help notice that had this compassion existed for African-Americans caught up in addiction and the behaviors it produces, the devastating impact of mass incarceration upon entire communities would never have happened.”