America has faced two infamous nationwide drug addictions—the crack crisis of the late 1980s and the ongoing opioid epidemic—yet one was treated as a moral failing of inner cities, while the other is treated as a health crisis that young, affluent whites fell prey to.
It has become clear that the difference in responses is due to the dominant race affected by each addiction. Crack was known to affect predominantly African Americans and heroin use increased 114 percent among whites between 2002-2013.
The crack crisis lead to government spending on stricter law enforcement and media coverage that criticized its abusers whereas the opioid epidemic lead to government spending on rehabilitation treatments and media coverage depicting sad tales of victims of the pharmaceutical industry and inner city drug dealers.
How crack began to 'ravage' the nation
Cocaine, seen as a party drug used by the wealthy, became more accessible starting in 1985, but this time it came in the form of cheap and highly addictive crack cocaine. According to the DEA’s documented history, at the rise of the crack crisis it was possible to acquire a dose of crack for as cheap as $2.50. Ty Miller, assistant professor of sociology, anthropology and criminology at Winthrop University said crack seeped into inner cities because of the nature of those cities. “You’re living in a neighborhood that has high poverty, high population turnover, high unemployment, single parent households,” Miller said.“All of those things are criminogenic and drug use is an outlet. Crack has become synonymous with poor African American neighborhoods because it was easier access to a cheaper drug with an intense high.” The DEA’s recorded history states that crack was not seen as a threat when it was first found in 1982 because it was primarily used by the middle class, a demographic not associated with drug use. When it appeared in New York City in 1983, it still wasn’t seen as a threat because it was estimated that more than three-fourths of early crack consumers were white professionals or the young middle class. Crack became an enforcement priority of the DEA when it became popular among African Americans. |
Crack has become synonymous with poor African American neighborhoods because it was easier access to a cheaper drug with an intense high,” Ty Miller; Winthrop University Professor |
How white Americans ‘fell victim’ to opioids
In the late 1990s, the opioid epidemic took hold on Americans after doctors across the country wrote more prescriptions for opioids based on false information from pharmaceutical companies which had claimed, at the time, that opioids were not an addictive form of pain management medication.
Those increased prescriptions led to widespread misuse of prescription and non-prescription opioids and that use often tumbles into use of other recreational drugs like heroin. Between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled. During that time, heroin use increased in most demographic groups but most significantly amongst non-hispanic whites, which increased by 114 percent. |
Curing the opioid Epidemic with sunshine
While the crack crisis was fought with the Reagan administration’s War on Drugs crusade, the opioid epidemic has been treated with a gentler hand. During Health and Human Services Secretary Thomas Price’s speech announcing the HHS Strategy for Fighting the Opioid Crisis in 2017, he announced that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would give all 50 states $485 million in grants for their evidence-based prevention and treatment activities. Price did not mention the DEA or cracking down on drug laws like Regan’s speech did. Instead, the focus was on rehabilitation and research. A recent development in opioid legislation is the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act passed in 2018. In name alone, the SUPPORT for Patients and Community Act shows the empathy that people who are addicted to opioids are receiving. Some of the main goals of the law include assessing barriers to opioid use disorder treatment, help for moms and babies, providing housing-related services, medicare provisions, advancing treatment and “fighting the opioid epidemic with sunshine.” The law does not mention criminal penalties against drug users, only rehabilitation, education and support. |
The coded racism in media responses
This year Sesame Street unveiled a new character for its online educational series who’s mom is struggling with addiction in an attempt to educate children on the opioid crisis.
While experts in child psychology see the new muppet as helpful to young kids, it is also a prime example of the different media portrayals of the two drug issues. And that’s just a small example of the pervasive racial divide in media coverage between the two epidemics.
A study published in Culture, Medicine and Society by Julie Netherland and Helena B. Hansen explored the coded language within the media coverage of the opioid epidemic that creates sympathy for white drug users while simultaneously vilifying people of color.
Modern day articles don’t identify race the same way they did during the crack crisis, but instead use coded language to depict different races including the term “urban” or “rural” to refer to whites and “inner-city” as code for blacks or latinos.
The study also found that most stories about overdoses and drug abuse center whites. Typically, reports about blacks and latinos using drugs comes in the form of a crime report.
The study also finds that even within the opioid epidemic, which is seen as an epidemic afflicting affluent whites, the media still finds ways to blame people of color for the issue whether that is blaming the heroin coming from “urban” areas or blaming the “bad doctors” with the ones most often named being foreign-born people of color.
Alexandra Greenwalt, prevention director at Keystone Substance Abuse Services in South Carolina, said language is imperative to reducing stigma and helping those with addictions.
“You can help reverse harmful stereotypes about addiction, improving access to care and support for people affected by this disease. It starts with something that seems small, but actually makes a huge difference: the words and language we use to talk about addiction,” Greenwalt said.
This year Sesame Street unveiled a new character for its online educational series who’s mom is struggling with addiction in an attempt to educate children on the opioid crisis.
While experts in child psychology see the new muppet as helpful to young kids, it is also a prime example of the different media portrayals of the two drug issues. And that’s just a small example of the pervasive racial divide in media coverage between the two epidemics.
A study published in Culture, Medicine and Society by Julie Netherland and Helena B. Hansen explored the coded language within the media coverage of the opioid epidemic that creates sympathy for white drug users while simultaneously vilifying people of color.
Modern day articles don’t identify race the same way they did during the crack crisis, but instead use coded language to depict different races including the term “urban” or “rural” to refer to whites and “inner-city” as code for blacks or latinos.
The study also found that most stories about overdoses and drug abuse center whites. Typically, reports about blacks and latinos using drugs comes in the form of a crime report.
The study also finds that even within the opioid epidemic, which is seen as an epidemic afflicting affluent whites, the media still finds ways to blame people of color for the issue whether that is blaming the heroin coming from “urban” areas or blaming the “bad doctors” with the ones most often named being foreign-born people of color.
Alexandra Greenwalt, prevention director at Keystone Substance Abuse Services in South Carolina, said language is imperative to reducing stigma and helping those with addictions.
“You can help reverse harmful stereotypes about addiction, improving access to care and support for people affected by this disease. It starts with something that seems small, but actually makes a huge difference: the words and language we use to talk about addiction,” Greenwalt said.
Comparing the language in the media: An article about the Crack Crisis vs. an article about the Opioid Epidemic
Key Words:
Significant quotes:
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Key Words:
Significant quotes:
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An ongoing issue
The tough on crime stance that Regan took in 1986 is still affecting people, specifically impoverished people of color. In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander writes that 31 million people have been arrested for drug offenses since 1986 and the percentage of drug arrests that lead to prison sentences has quadrupled.
A cursory comparison between the epidemics can lead many to believe that the difference in treatment of the crack crisis and opioid epidemic is simply because of an evolved stance on drug use, but Miller writes that the contrasts between the epidemics are centered around race and that those approaches are not going to change.
“Race is completely contrived, we made it up, it’s socially constructed. But because we treat it as real, it has all these effects and these effects bleed into things like the crack epidemic, the war on drugs, and what we see with the opioid crisis right now and that’s that it is highly racialized and that’s why we look at things the way that we do,” Miller said. “You could argue that looking at the opioid epidemic right now in a health lens is a positive thing, but you’re willfully ignoring the fact that the only reason we are treating this better is because the way the people who are doing this drug look is way different than the people looked in the past.”
What Miller said can be seen by looking at the ongoing opioid epidemic that has been affecting African-American neighborhoods for decades yet is largely ignored. According to the U.S. News and World Report, when the opioid issue is addressed in cities like Chicago, it tends to be through police crackdowns rather than through rehabilitation and intervention like it is in so-called “suburban” or white communities.
The CDC and Prevention data shows that between 2014 and 2017, the fatal opioid overdose rate among African Americans rose 130 percent, twice the 61.5 percent increase for whites over the same time span.
In Chicago, heroin proved more deadly than homicides– with 670 homicide deaths and 796 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2017 alone
While the white victims of the opioid epidemic are being treated with rehabilitation efforts, Sesame Street specials and “sunshine” their black counterparts face police crackdowns, jail time and a disparity in resources needed to ensure these communities can get better.
The tough on crime stance that Regan took in 1986 is still affecting people, specifically impoverished people of color. In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander writes that 31 million people have been arrested for drug offenses since 1986 and the percentage of drug arrests that lead to prison sentences has quadrupled.
A cursory comparison between the epidemics can lead many to believe that the difference in treatment of the crack crisis and opioid epidemic is simply because of an evolved stance on drug use, but Miller writes that the contrasts between the epidemics are centered around race and that those approaches are not going to change.
“Race is completely contrived, we made it up, it’s socially constructed. But because we treat it as real, it has all these effects and these effects bleed into things like the crack epidemic, the war on drugs, and what we see with the opioid crisis right now and that’s that it is highly racialized and that’s why we look at things the way that we do,” Miller said. “You could argue that looking at the opioid epidemic right now in a health lens is a positive thing, but you’re willfully ignoring the fact that the only reason we are treating this better is because the way the people who are doing this drug look is way different than the people looked in the past.”
What Miller said can be seen by looking at the ongoing opioid epidemic that has been affecting African-American neighborhoods for decades yet is largely ignored. According to the U.S. News and World Report, when the opioid issue is addressed in cities like Chicago, it tends to be through police crackdowns rather than through rehabilitation and intervention like it is in so-called “suburban” or white communities.
The CDC and Prevention data shows that between 2014 and 2017, the fatal opioid overdose rate among African Americans rose 130 percent, twice the 61.5 percent increase for whites over the same time span.
In Chicago, heroin proved more deadly than homicides– with 670 homicide deaths and 796 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2017 alone
While the white victims of the opioid epidemic are being treated with rehabilitation efforts, Sesame Street specials and “sunshine” their black counterparts face police crackdowns, jail time and a disparity in resources needed to ensure these communities can get better.