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The Changing Landscape of Heroin Use

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Fri Oct 30, 2015 at 07:28:27 PM EST
Tags: heroin (all tags)
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[Lou Reed, Nico and the Velvet Underground, 1966.)

.

The New York Times: Parents of heroin addicts are urging a kindler, gentler drug war.

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    The Changing Landscape of Heroin Use | 12 comments (12 topical)

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    Better late then never (5.00 / 3) (#1)
    by pitachips on Fri Oct 30, 2015 at 07:50:28 PM EST
    Of course no consolation to the hundreds of thousands of people who were affected, whether directly or indirectly, by our dear nation's utter contempt for black and brown victims of addiction.

    Which does raise the question whether (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by Peter G on Sat Oct 31, 2015 at 02:09:33 PM EST
    "black lives matter" to those who make the rules and wield the power.

    Parent
    The most interesting subplot (none / 0) (#4)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Nov 01, 2015 at 09:47:16 AM EST
    Of the series The Knick is addiction.  And how differently it was approached then because most (or at least lots of) addicts were wealthy society people.  

    As welcome story is as this is it does have a whif of classism to it.  

    Parent

    I'm hoping it's a perfect storm in a way (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by CST on Mon Nov 02, 2015 at 01:38:07 PM EST
    Black lives matters - meets people who are being affected by heroin.

    Yes, it's more than a bit classist, shoot poor white people have also had heroin problems for a long time - but lets not let the sins of the past keep us from using every tool at our disposal to make the future better for everyone.

    Never let a crisis go to waste.

    Parent

    Thought provoking post (5.00 / 3) (#2)
    by MO Blue on Sat Oct 31, 2015 at 10:38:13 AM EST
    When White People Take Drugs, It Stops Being A War

    Yup, It's How Cocaine... (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by ScottW714 on Mon Nov 02, 2015 at 08:53:51 AM EST
    ...blew up, no one cared that well off white folks were doing it and only became an issue when black folks started doing it, which also birthed sentencing disparities.

    We have politicians and the media to thank for scaring the hell out of people for their own benefits.

    Parent

    Scott, I agree with your assessment, (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by fishcamp on Mon Nov 02, 2015 at 09:25:05 AM EST
    but when powdered cocaine turned into crack cocaine, the real problems began.

    Parent
    But Those Were Other People (5.00 / 3) (#12)
    by ScottW714 on Mon Nov 02, 2015 at 04:17:54 PM EST
    When it was black folks, Mexicans, or Asians, no mercy, now they want mercy and compassion since its actually people they know.

    It's the lack of empathy for minorities that bothers me to no end, because no lessons have been learned, now it's deportations in mass and obvious police brutality for black people, and the people wanting mercy, still have none for minorities.

    All of exploited for selfish reasons.  It would never occur to most that they needed to fear black folks till the media and politicians let them know they would murdered for a rock.

    Parent

    Yes, that is what (none / 0) (#11)
    by Zorba on Mon Nov 02, 2015 at 02:38:45 PM EST
    I remember, because powdered cocaine was used widely by wealthy, and even famous, white people.  But crack became available, and cheap, and infested many black communities, and then the sentencing disparities really took off.

    Parent
    Day Light Saving Time Calculator (5.00 / 2) (#6)
    by ScottW714 on Mon Nov 02, 2015 at 09:13:04 AM EST
    Put in when you get up and when you go to bed.

    For me:

    What time do you wake up? 6:30  And go to bed? 10:30

    With daylight saving, you soak in 4,470 (98%) of the available 4,568 hours of daylight each year on your current sleep schedule. (That's 201 more hours of sun than you'd get without daylight saving.)

    LINK

    I hate the time change, today I was up at 5:30 and could not get back to sleep, but that isn't so bad, it's when we go back that I struggle for two weeks to get up on time.  I would love to just stay on the same time all year, either one works for me.

    There is no doubt (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by CST on Mon Nov 02, 2015 at 01:35:54 PM EST
    in my mind that people are paying more attention now that it's affecting upper-middle class white people.

    But it's also just affecting more people total, from all walks of life.  And when you have that many people affected by it, you start to reach critical mass in terms of people who care.

    And yes, it's abhorrent and depressing to consider the lives that have been deemed less worthy of empathy in the war on drugs.

    Political Ads... (none / 0) (#8)
    by ScottW714 on Mon Nov 02, 2015 at 10:25:43 AM EST
    ...I hate them.

    In Houston the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) was law for a month:

    In May 2014, with Mayor Annise Parker's backing, the Houston City Council passed the ordinance targeted by this veto referendum in an 11-6 vote. The ordinance, which is on the ballot as Proposition 1, would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity--criteria not covered by federal anti-discrimination laws--especially "in city employment, city services, city contracting practices, housing, public accommodations, and private employment." The ordinance would also make prohibitions against discrimination based on sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, genetic information and pregnancy explicit in the city's code. Discrimination based on these characteristics is prohibited by federal law.
     
    It is essentially a LGBT discrimination law, which did not sit well with Houston branch of the U.S. Pastor Council, who took it to the Texas Supreme Court who ordered it be repealed of put to a vote.  In the meantime it's been suspended until the vote results are in this week.

    So now it's on the ballot, the problem is the political ads, on both sides, are afraid to actually address the main issue, LGBT rights.

    Opponents claim it would allow men to claim they are a women in order to gain access into female restrooms and do bad deeds to little girls, they are calling it the Bathroom Ordinance  They even got a hometown 'hero', Lance Berkman to do an ad with the same BS.

    Proponents are saying that it allows people to discriminate against Veterans and the ad has an actual veteran stating he was discriminated against. LINK  

    This bothers me to no end since both claims are baseless and idiotic, and the fact that it's been law in many other cities and the boogie man scenarios have not happened.  Both sides are too afraid to put ads out about the real point of the law, to ensure sexual preference/identity is not used as a basis to discriminate.

    I get why one side doesn't want to promote discrimination, but the other should be ashamed for not having the fortitude to believe that people would not support anti-discrimination legislation for LGBT folks.

    The Changing Landscape of Heroin Use | 12 comments (12 topical)

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