Drug abuse and the crime related to it long were associated with inner cities. Politicians emphasized three-strikes-and-you’re-out legislation. Public policy focused on penalties. Drug users were sent to jail.
The opioid crisis has affected communities large and small. The focus switched from imprisonment to treatment. Addicts were no longer criminals but troubled individuals in need of healing.
A broader social question persists, however. It does not flatter American attitudes, either. The criminalization of drug abuse during an era when the problem was associated with inner cities screamed that black lives did not matter. White America did not notice then; it does not notice now.
Excerpted from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.