Week 11: Heroin Today

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/03/27/new-hampshire-heroin

This article was very interesting because it gave me some insight as to what is happening today with Heroin as opposed to the history of heroin use in our country. As the article states, in New Hampshire, heroin use had doubled over from 2007 to 2012. This is incredibly scary to see, especially because the "War on Drugs" is still so intense and overbearing in our country. It seems curious to me that while we are cracking down and getting tough on drugs, the drug use is still rising. 

Something interesting that I noticed was the location of this article, New Hampshire. When I looked up some quick statistics about the state of New Hampshire, I discovered that it is 94% white (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/33000.html) and this is extremely troubling. It only seems to point more to the fact that this "War on Drugs" crusade in America is more racially driven then I ever could of imagined. Our government is not cracking down on drug use, they are cracking down on drug use by non-white, particularly African American drug users. Heroin use has doubled in this state, and not surprising enough, the majority of this state is white. 

Then, as you scroll down the article and read on through the interview with Col. Bob Quinn the director of the New Hampshire’s Division of State Police, you find another interesting fact. 85% of those in prison in the state are there due to substance abuse problems.  One statistic he didn’t include was how many of those prisoners are non-white.

The interviewer, Robin Young at one point brings up the idea of “moving the beds on the front end instead of beds behind bars…to treatment centers” (Young, 2014). This is another aspect that connects with our readings this week. It is interesting to see a new shift emerging back to the idea of treating the victim over punishing the criminal when it comes to drugs. I would like to ask the head of police though, who is being treated and who is being sent to jail? This is only because we can’t help but wonder if only those middle class white citizens are being treated while the African American drug users stay as criminals needing to be punished.