What will it take for America to turn against the War on Drugs?

21-year-old Alysa Ivy of small town Hudson, Wisconsin died of a heroin overdose last year.  With no ‘Good Samaritan’ laws in Wisconsin, her death may have been preventable if the people she was with had not been afraid of arrest and called 911.

            Alysa had no access to treatment, even though an excellent facility was very close to her home, because she and her mother were uninsured and could not afford it.  Alysa Ivy is not what most people expect when they think of a heroin overdose, not from an extremely needy family or a bad neighborhood, she had the ability to hold a job – Alysa was also white. 

According to the CDC’s Substance abuse and Mental Health Association, heroin deaths among whites aged 15-34 have increased in the last 15 years, while for Hispanic and black populations deaths have remained rather steady – no real increase or decrease per 100,000 people age 15-34. 

If more white people are now affected by American drug policies, losing family members or seeing stories like this on the news, I have to wonder – will things start to change?  Already Alysa’s death has created dialogue about a ‘Good Samaritan’ law being enacted in Wisconsin.

Our systems of governance and systems of incarceration are undoubtedly biased.  In 2010, more than half of all incarcerated people had committed a drug offence.  Of those people, half were black – even though among young people whites are more likely to use drugs.  However, Black youth are 10x more likely to be arrested for drug offences than White youth. 

As the drug use of White young people becomes more obvious, will our treatment systems change?  Will we collectively ask for treatment over incarceration?  The War on Drugs has always targeted People of Color and poor communities.  But if the wealth gap is widening and the middle-class is gone, will demands for new laws and systems become more apparent?

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/us/heroins-small-town-toll-and-a-mothers-pain.html?_r=0

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/drug-war-mass-incarceration_n_3034310.html