Ep. 10 - Drugs! Treatment, Criminalization, & Racial Framing in the Opioid & Crack Epidemics

BrownTown takes a look at the current opioid crisis and the “War
on Drugs”, particularly its exacerbation with crack cocaine in
the 1980s. Black and Brown communities and bodies have been
criminalized for decades under drug laws and mass racialized
incarceration for their trauma, addiction, and underground
economy. However, when a similar problem affects a largely white
population, the narratives flips to treatment, medicalization,
understanding, and humanity. The larger history regarding the
criminalization of drugs has always incorporated a systemically
racist tie to policy and a hegemonic control of framing
problematic narratives. From opium to marijuana, the crack
“epidemic” was yet another escapegoat mechanism to racially
divide low-income and poor people to keep from organizing against
class inequity. When unraveling the layers, we see that “big
pharma” (large, monied pharmaceutical industry) operates under a
white capitalist and, most importantly, legal institution, which
allows the practices that led to the opioid crisis with little to
no retribution. BrownTown goes on to discuss personal
frustrations in a changing world that is, fortunately, becoming
more aware of these histories which has led to some change in
laws and public attitudes yet obscures the research that has been
available for decades. Is this too little too late? How does a
person, a society, a government reconcile the ills of the past
while planning for a more just future? Here’s BrownTown's take.


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CREDITS: Intro song Reagan by Killer
Mike. Outro song Crack Music by Kanye West. Audio
engineered by Genta Tamashiro. Episode photo by Andrew Merz.


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