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Comment by smogcutter | Hacker News Reader

Anyone else notice that a common theme in the recent wave of handwringing over heroin and opioid addiction is that the victims we're asked to consider with compassion and understanding are almost always white? The tough on crime drug war rhetoric disappears so easily when the victims are "regular people" who fell prey to the pharma industry, not "junkies".

I'm not saying that we shouldn't treat these people with compassion -- exactly the opposite. The LA Times series in particular is a fantastic piece of reporting. Rather, I'm saying we should consider why the portrayal of this particular drug epidemic is so different than others, and how we can extend the same compassion to others who have also had their lives and families destroyed by drugs. We hear about these people because they're white. Meanwhile, what's happening to the people we don't hear about?

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As a Black man in his late thirties, this is one of the most difficult things for me to accept. I'm from Dayton, OH. I grew up on the west side of Dayton, which is the side of town where most Black people in the city lived. My bitterness at seeing the way things are being handled now compared to the crack epidemic that swept through African American communities in the 80s has made me very spiteful. It's even more of a slap in the face because a large number of addicts (who are almost always white) come to the West side of Dayton to use their drugs. As a child, I hardly ever saw White people on the West side. Now, when I come back to visit, and I see a White person on the West side, I have a pretty good idea why they are where they are. It is a very difficult thing to come to terms with. My resentment over this situation has gotten to the point where I have decided not to offer help (other than a call to 911) to an addict who may have overdosed.

edited to correct grammar

I agree with your point 100% BUT there is one point to be made. Prosecute the Pharm Execs, Doctors who broke the law.

There is a smoking gun! Look at West Virginia and the pills that were prescribed. I am talking about 780,000,000 pain meds. In a state of 1.84 million residents, the shipments amount to 433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia.

The death toll for this 5 year time between 2007-2012 is 1,728 West Virginians died from overdoses of hydrocodone and oxycodone.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Drug-Wholesalers-Shi...

So you are 100% right about public perception. I live in a large city in PA and my In-laws come to visit from W.Va and I always tell them I see more people high in W.Va then in my Center City neighborhood and they always roll their eyes like I am crazy.

It is not going to happen, because they have politicians in their pockets and nobody will investigate that.

I sadly also agree with you 100%

You're definitely not the only one to notice, there have even been articles about it. It's pretty disgusting, but from a utilitarian perspective, caring for victims is better than not caring out of spite. About all we can do is hope that once we get this particular epidemic cleaned up, the next time one comes around that mainly affects poor blacks, we remember the lessons learned.

Not sure but the media during the crack epidemic sure focused on non-white people... And that just further perpetrated the idea and image that non-white people do drugs and thus are bad.

This seems like a way to raise awareness in a more responsible way.

It's very simple, people are more compassionate to people similar to them. And it's obvious why - similarity makes it easier to see yourself in others' shoes.

Do you happen to have a link to the LA Times series to which you're referring?

I'm thinking of this in particular: http://www.latimes.com/projects/oxycontin-part1/

EDIT: also I want to be clear that I don't think journalists are sitting at their desks saying "Uh oh, white people are in trouble! Sound the alarm!". This is great coverage, and it's a complicated issue.

That is an excellent report, thanks!

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