However, as a health care provider and a woman of color, it is also my obligation to use examples from the past to uncover potential threats to the health and well-being of all. After years of marginalism, lack of access to adequate health care, rehabilitation services and the criminalization of black and brown folk who suffered from addiction, I must shine the observation light on the roots of crack cocaine in black communities. I must also be instrumental in helping those who have been affected by the War on Drugs and are now suffering from PTSD and complex Urban Traumas find ways to heal after years of existing without proper therapy and intervention.
So, the next question is why was there such a difference in approach to these two highly addictive drugs? First, we must acknowledge that crack, although extremely prevalent in white communities across the country as well, was considered a "poor man's drug" and the concentrated effects were seen in inner city (urban) communities due to the CIA's documented infusion of cocaine into those communities.
Conversely, opioid abuse is primarily found in white middle to upper class communities where doctors are not hesitant to prescribe these opioid analgesics whereas doctors are unlikely to prescribe these drugs to people of color with the same ease; and definitely not on a long-term basis due to biased views about people of color, addiction and the perceived propensity for people of color to divert these drugs.
Therefore, in essence, racist views on prescribing opioids actually saved people of color. Secondly, the areas most affected by the opioid crisis are rural, suburban areas with political power. As opioid deaths have risen in the white communities, politicians and legislators have been forced to address this problem or potentially loose the support of their constituents; in the black community voter involvement is inconsistent and often times low which makes black voters "insignificant" in the minds of most elected officials. Lastly, with 115 Americans dying every day from opioid overdoses we all agree that no matter what the failures of the past were in communities of color, we must act as one America to combat opioids, because it is going to take all of us to bring this crisis to an end.
-Kebra Smith-Bolden, RN
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