S L I D E 0
The Whitification of the Opioid Crisis
Ayana Jordan, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Addiction Psychiatrist, Attending Psychiatrist
Connecticut Mental Health Center
Director, Yale Global Mental Health Program
S L I D E 1
The Current State of Affairs
• 2016, >64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, 33K opioid related c/w 7,100 o/d deaths in 1975
• No racial group has escaped the effects, inc Black, Latinos, NA
• But this is IGNORED by Regulatory Agencies (Healthcare, Public Health, Law Enforcement, Policy) and Media
C. Hart, ‘People Are Dying Because of Ignorance, not Because of Opioids,’ Scientific American, Nov. 1, 2017, .
S. Bechteler and K. Kane-Willis, Chicago Urban League, Whitewashed: the African American Opioid Epidemic, Nov. 2017
S L I D E 2
Rate of Opioid Deaths have increased for ALL Racial Groups
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Results from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tables, Sept. 7, 2017
S L I D E 3
Black Overdose Deaths Surpass General Population in 5 States
.S. Bechteler and K. Kane-Willis, Chicago Urban League, Whitewashed: the African American Opioid Epidemic, Nov. 2017
S L I D E 4
Opioids are not the only Crisis
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/upshot/overshadowed-by-the-opioid-crisis-a-comeback-by-cocaine.html
• Cocaine #2 Killer of Illicit Drugs
• Kills More Black Americans than Opioids (Heroin)
• Anti-Drug Abuse Act 1986:
100x harsher penalties for crack vs
powder
• Sentencing Disparity between CrackCocaine and Powder Cocaine
S L I D E 5
Criminalization of Addiction for POC
Heroin Epidemic of 1960s and 1970s
Rockefeller Laws: toughest anti-drug program
Target “kingpins” BUT low level, nonviolent first time offenses
Disproportionately affect Black heroin users
Long lasting effects 2001, Blacks and Latinos 94% prison c/w 5.3 % Whites
E. Drucker, ‘Population impact of mass incarceration under New York's Rockefeller drug laws: an analysis of years of life lost,’
Journal of Urban Health Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 79, no. 3 (2002): 434-444.
ACLU, War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Police, June 2014
Report says U.S. jails more blacks than whites for drugs,’ Reuters, Dec. 4, 2007
ACLU, Racial Disparities in Sentencing, Oct. 27, 2014
Blacks more likely to be arrested for opioid use
Blacks > Incarcerated drug offenses at a rate 10x c/w whites
Heavier Policing in Black communities
S L I D E 6
But Now Opioid Use is Being Treated as a Medical Illness/Public Health Problem
What happens to POC?
Reduced Initiation/Engagement In SUD Treatment
Continues to be Viewed as Criminals
VS
NYT: “In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs
Time Magazine: “A caring lens on the opioid crisis”
New Yorker: “The Addicts Next Door”
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUHresultsPDFWHTML2013/Web/NSDUHresults2013.pdf
K.Q. Seelye, ‘In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs,’ New York Times, Oct. 30, 2015
J. Stockbridge and L. Rothman, ‘A Caring Lens on the Opioid Crisis, Time Magazine
M. Talbot, ‘The Addicts Next Door,’ New Yorker, June 5, 2017,
S L I D E 7
Regulatory Agencies Advertise to WHITES
S L I D E 8
The words of Researcher Dr. Stephanie Schmitz Bechteler
“On the one hand, the change in the narrative has brought a broader awareness to the issue, but it has come at the expense of the comprehensive set of people who are affected by this…”
.S. Bechteler and K. Kane-Willis, Chicago Urban League, Whitewashed: the African American Opioid Epidemic, Nov. 2017
S L I D E 9
References
• https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUHresultsPDFWHTML2013/Web/NSDUHresults2013.pdf
• S.S. Bechteler and K. Kane-Willis, Chicago Urban League, Whitewashed: the African American Opioid Epidemic, Nov. 2017, available at<https://www.thechicagourbanleague.org/cms/lib/IL07000264/Centricity/Domain/1/Whitewashed%20AA%20Opioid%20Crisis%2011-15-17_EMBARGOED_%20FINAL.pdf
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Results from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed Tables, Sept. 7, 2017, available at < https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-DetTabs-2016/NSDUH-DetTabs-2016.pdf
• https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/upshot/overshadowed-by-the-opioid-crisis-a-comeback-by-cocaine.html
• E. Drucker, ‘Population impact of mass incarceration under New York's Rockefeller drug laws: an analysis of years of life lost,’
• Journal of Urban Health Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 79, no. 3 (2002): 434-444.
• ACLU, War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Police, June 2014
• Report says U.S. jails more blacks than whites for drugs,’ Reuters, Dec. 4, 2007
• ACLU, Racial Disparities in Sentencing, Oct. 27, 2014
• https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUHresultsPDFWHTML2013/Web/NSDUHresults2013.pdf
• K.Q. Seelye, ‘In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs,’ New York Times, Oct. 30, 2015
• J. Stockbridge and L. Rothman, ‘A Caring Lens on the Opioid Crisis, Time Magazine http://time.com/jeffrey-stockbridge-kensington-philadelphia-photographs
• M. Talbot, ‘The Addicts Next Door,’ New Yorker, June 5, 2017,
