3 ms·

Really sad that this is the top comment here. How about instead of immediately making it a racial issue, maybe we consider that we've learned something from the

by Zarath 9y ago

Really sad that this is the top comment here. How about instead of immediately making it a racial issue, maybe we consider that we've learned something from the crack epidemic of the 80s on how to better deal with such problems? Or we could also consider that the opioid problem is different because the source of such problems is pharmaceutical companies and the doctors prescribing them, rather than some illegal drug smuggling trade. I'm not saying any of these hypotheses are correct, just that immediately making this a race issue does absolutely no good.

tptacek 9y ago
I'd say it does the good of reminding us that where black communities face retributive drug policies, white communities tend instead to get therapeutic drug policy. That seems like an important detail, not an artificial concern.
- Zarath 9y ago
  I agree with your point but that feels like more of a class issue than a race issue, though of course race and class aren't independent unfortunately.
  - tptacek 9y ago
    No, it's not. The opiate epidemic, like crack cocaine, is mostly a phenomenon of the lower class. But opiates involve white people and generate therapy, while crack involves black people and generates prison time.
eropple 9y ago
You are "not saying any of these hypotheses are correct," but boy howdy are you really up on making sure he doesn't put forward one you don't like, yeah? Saying "X is X" does not mean you are "making it X". If you think he's making it a racial issue, you might want to consider that it just might be actually a racial issue.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- Zarath 9y ago
  > but boy howdy are you really up on making sure he doesn't put forward one you don't like, yeah? What? I made one comment. Not only was parent's comment only loosely relevant to the article itself, but they provided no evidence to support their position, all with an undertone of maliciousness. I'm willing to accept it's a racial issue if you present evidence that reasonably eliminates confounding factors like the ones I brought up. As for the opioid epidemic: I care about as much as I care about the crack epidemic, which is about as much as I can care without having anyone close to me be affected. > Saying "X is X" does not mean you are "making it X". If you think he's making it a racial issue, you might want to consider that it just might be actually a racial issue. They are "making it a racial issue" because the article is about how to best help someone with an opioid addiction, not why people write so many articles about opioid addiction, or why so many people care about opioid addiction, or why the method of dealing with the opioid epidemic seems different than that of the crack epidemic. Parent's comment is, again, only marginally relevant to the content of the article.
kchoudhu 9y ago
Given that justice reform for low level drug offenders has gone precisely nowhere in the last 30 years, I'm thinking we haven't really learned anything from the epidemic in the 80s. I'll let you fill in the blanks: If the 80s epidemic and the current opioid crisis are experiments and the sentencing scheme remains identical, what is the independent variable?
- Zarath 9y ago
  - Ease of obtaining opioids compared to crack as a member of the middle class. - Ease of becoming addicted to opioids when the original intent of use was medical, rather than recreational - Arguably larger reach of opioid epidemic, specifically that it is less isolated to a few geographical areas - Socioeconomic class of people that are affected - More accepting/understanding of addiction and drug use in general, even if the laws yet aren't

by Zarath 9y ago

tptacek 9y ago

I'd say it does the good of reminding us that where black communities face retributive drug policies, white communities tend instead to get therapeutic drug policy. That seems like an important detail, not an artificial concern.

Zarath 9y ago
I agree with your point but that feels like more of a class issue than a race issue, though of course race and class aren't independent unfortunately.
- tptacek 9y ago
  No, it's not. The opiate epidemic, like crack cocaine, is mostly a phenomenon of the lower class. But opiates involve white people and generate therapy, while crack involves black people and generates prison time.

eropple 9y ago

You are "not saying any of these hypotheses are correct," but boy howdy are you really up on making sure he doesn't put forward one you don't like, yeah? Saying "X is X" does not mean you are "making it X". If you think he's making it a racial issue, you might want to consider that it just might be actually a racial issue.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Zarath 9y ago
> but boy howdy are you really up on making sure he doesn't put forward one you don't like, yeah? What? I made one comment. Not only was parent's comment only loosely relevant to the article itself, but they provided no evidence to support their position, all with an undertone of maliciousness. I'm willing to accept it's a racial issue if you present evidence that reasonably eliminates confounding factors like the ones I brought up. As for the opioid epidemic: I care about as much as I care about the crack epidemic, which is about as much as I can care without having anyone close to me be affected. > Saying "X is X" does not mean you are "making it X". If you think he's making it a racial issue, you might want to consider that it just might be actually a racial issue. They are "making it a racial issue" because the article is about how to best help someone with an opioid addiction, not why people write so many articles about opioid addiction, or why so many people care about opioid addiction, or why the method of dealing with the opioid epidemic seems different than that of the crack epidemic. Parent's comment is, again, only marginally relevant to the content of the article.

kchoudhu 9y ago

Given that justice reform for low level drug offenders has gone precisely nowhere in the last 30 years, I'm thinking we haven't really learned anything from the epidemic in the 80s. I'll let you fill in the blanks: If the 80s epidemic and the current opioid crisis are experiments and the sentencing scheme remains identical, what is the independent variable?

Zarath 9y ago
- Ease of obtaining opioids compared to crack as a member of the middle class. - Ease of becoming addicted to opioids when the original intent of use was medical, rather than recreational - Arguably larger reach of opioid epidemic, specifically that it is less isolated to a few geographical areas - Socioeconomic class of people that are affected - More accepting/understanding of addiction and drug use in general, even if the laws yet aren't