3 ms·
In the current opiate epidemic, a far greater proportion of addicts are white. Whether consciously or unconsciously, it's seems highly likely that those in powe
by jbarciauskas 11y ago
In the current opiate epidemic, a far greater proportion of addicts are white. Whether consciously or unconsciously, it's seems highly likely that those in power are drawing different conclusions about what the right solution to drug abuse is based on the skin color of the victims.
- awakeasleep 11y agoDon't get stuck oversimplifying with "whiteness" being the full explanation. Meth has been a disproportionately white drug, but it strikes in areas of poverty where the parents of addicts are already the underclass, and can't drum up sympathy with the 'power structures' of their community. (Think judges, police, town officials.) Opiates often hit middle class or wealthy families. Thats the real difference: This is a drug epiedemic that is crawling into areas of society with political capital. Parents of addicts or the addicts themselves know or work with the people who can show empathy when creating & enforcing policy.
- jqm 11y agoMeth users are also (in my limited experience) considerably more prone to antisocial/obnoxious/violent behavior than opiate addicts. It might be harder for people to have sympathy for them VS. a person who quietly struggles with a (sometimes deadly) addiction that begin from a legitimate pharmaceutical prescription.