mmmmdrugs

In the past 20 years drug addiction has not only become a more prevalent social problem, but it’s become more prevalent amongst a variety of communities. The rise of younger people struggling with addiction is influenced by many factors, often social class and mental health – I'd also argue that romanticizing and normalizing substance abuse through media likely isn’t helping younger generations. Anti-drug PSAs and organizations often simply address peer pressure and health risks with little attention put towards what often drives people to these substances in the first place.

While addiction is largely treated as a criminal issue, the recent switch in demographic seems to incite more widespread sympathy due to racial bias. People feel differently about drugs when it’s their upper-class, white, teenage daughter as opposed to the universal faceless “junkie.” They begin to realize the reality of addiction, the fact that it’s often something turned to as a source of comfort when one’s life is lacking. In my eyes, Substance abuse is a mental issue which often leads to a criminal issue. Focusing on the mental aspect, as many successful modern efforts have, has the capability to significantly reduce the problem. As police in Seattle found, redirecting familiar faces to services that would help them pay for rent, school, and find job opportunities resulted in people getting the help they needed – thus essentially ending the cycle (Knafo, August 2013).

When it comes to the specificities of these efforts, my views are very similar to my views on homelessness. It should be destigmatized and addressed in a humane way. As offering transitional housing applies to the common overlap of homeless people and those struggling with addiction, I still see it as the most apt solution I’m aware of as well as the aforementioned efforts in Seattle. There’s also what I’d assume is the slightly more controversial view of making drug use safer, no matter the drug. Bloodborne diseases are a serious issue within the drug epidemic and making resources like clean needles available would likely cut down on related deaths – not to mention related medical expenses. It’s easy to see how this could be misconstrued as encouragement, but people will do it anyway. It may as well be carefully monitored and made as safe as possible while we work on resolving the root of the issue itself.

As I addressed, the more addiction affects non-marginalized groups the more acceptable and worthy of sympathy it becomes in the public eye. A personal favorite and particularly jarring statistical comparison is the disconnect between those profiting off of legal marijuana and those being incarcerated for its use. According to Marijuana Business Daily circa 2017, 81% percent of cannabis executives are white. Meanwhile, more than 60,000 people were arrested due to marijuana in New York between 2014 and 2016 – and 52,730 were Black or Latino despite all races having similar rates of use (Posner, 2018). While it doesn’t directly correlate to addiction, it speaks for racial biases and their relationship with the selective stigma surrounding drug use.

References

Knafo, S. (2013, August 22). War on drugs failure gives way to treatment in states, cities. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/22/war-on-drugs-treatment_n_3792445.html

Posner, L. (2018, December 10). The Green Rush is Too White. Pacific Standard. Retrieved from https://psmag.com/economics/the-green-rush-is-too-white-hood-incubator-race-weed