The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5
=> Heroin Crisis Among US Whites Leads to Policy Change
| Heroin Crisis Among US Whites Leads to Policy Change |
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Posted by
Marcello
(Guest)
- Saturday, October 31 2015, 22:38:29 (UTC) from 71.107.61.202 - pool-71-107-61-202.lsanca.dsl-w.verizon.net  Network -  Windows NT -   SafariWebsite: http://www.us.mg1.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?.g)x=1&.rand Website title: Document Has Moved |
-- Michelle Alexander who wrote "The New Jim Crow" said that when drugs destroy the black community, it's considered a crime and a felony, but when drugs begin to swallow up the white community, it's called "a disease". Heroin Crisis Among US Whites Leads to Policy Change http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Heroin-Crisis-Among-US-Whites-Leads-to-Policy-Change-20151031-0013.html An epidemic of heroin use among whites in the United States has prompted an unprecedented review of drugs policies, seen as a radical change of heart from when drug abusers were seen as predominantly Black. The New York Times reports that with proliferation of heroin abuse among whites, the abusers’ families are using their influence to mold the government’s way of dealing with drug addicts, to treat them as sufferers of a disease, and not as criminals. The changing mood comes in stark contrast to the epidemic of crack cocaine based in poor, Black, urban areas, which was characterized by zero tolerance and unforgiving prison sentences. “Because the demographic of people affected are more white, more middle class, these are parents who are empowered,” said Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “They know how to call a legislator, they know how to get angry with their insurance company, they know how to advocate. They have been so instrumental in changing the conversation.” The use of heroin in the U.S. has increased over 150 percent in the past few years, largely due to greater supply of the drug at cheaper prices. Overdoses have also risen by more than 400 percent since 2002, U.S. health officials announced. And, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white. In response to the growing crisis, and aided by families lobbying statehouses, holding rallies, and starting nonprofit organizations, in August this year the White House announced a new US$2.25 million program to improve the government’s response to heroin across 15 states, focused on the treatment, rather than punishment, of addicts. The campaign is so effective that presidential candidates are addressing the issue with compassion, including Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton, who presented a US$10 billion program to confront and treat drug addiction over the next decade. But while experts agree that the new, “softer” war on drugs will be much more effective in the long run, others note the disturbing racial element to the situation. “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 investigates racial issues in the criminal justice system. “(But) I don’t think we should lock up white kids to show we’re being equal.” Officials say that the drug has mushroomed across a cross-section of communities due to its easy availability and low price. Another reason behind heroin’s “whiteness,” taking seed in suburbs and small towns, is a former addiction to prescription painkillers, which can lead into heavier drug use. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that opioids like OxyContin and other pain medications kill 44 people each day. New England and New Hampshire are currently the most affected states, with the latter suffering 325 deaths by opioid overdoses in 2014, a 68 percent rise from the previous year. --------------------- |
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