3 ms·
The problem with drug overdoses can be directly tied to the War on Drugs. The entire campaign criminalized addiction vs focusing on rehabilitation, it removed o
by deaddodo 4y ago
The problem with drug overdoses can be directly tied to the War on Drugs. The entire campaign criminalized addiction vs focusing on rehabilitation, it removed outlets from relief in many states and it has only made illicit drug quality significantly worse (versus removing access to them).
This is one of those metrics that really makes US federalism apparent and shows the drastic difference in outcomes from the two major parties. By reviewing the per state metrics[1], you can see that states that take a much lighter hand to drug criminalization and that offer state sponsored relief (California, for instance) have a much lower death rate to ones that take a heavy hand (southern states, New Mexico, etc).
1 - https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/drug_poisoning_mortality/drug_poisoning.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/drug_poisoning_mor...
- anon291 4y agoYour map tells no such story. In particular, California's low rate cannot be attributed to California's policies, as California's rate is matched by Utah, Idaho, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, etc. You say Southern States have a higher death rate, yet Mississippi (typically considered archetypical of the deep south) a lower per-capita drug overdose rate. Texas, which is a state dominated by the party that does not rule California has an overdose rate about 75% that of California. There's a lot more going on than your analysis would suggest.