#TrillFacts @Regranned from @gainingourdefinition - #dianarichardson Jesse Mechanic- For the most part, we are more compassionate, more empathetic, more logical; we now largely view addiction as a disease rather than a conscious collapse of morals. It’s good timing too. The opioid epidemic is the largest drug epidemic in recorded history, resulting in over 500,000 deaths since 2000. But the question is, why now? What tipped the scales and led formerly staunch supporters of the war on drugs to rethink their approach? The answer is white people. White people got addicted. The opioid epidemic has, at least recently, been met with empathy, creativity, and heart. The crack epidemic of the 1980s was met with scorn and punishment. The rhetoric around crack painted addicts as wild animals, “super-predators” who needed to be brought to “heel.” It was easier for lawmakers, pundits and the like to separate themselves from the crisis, as nearly all of them were white and well-off. The crack epidemic almost exclusively impacted people of color living in poor neighborhoods—it was a problem of another world. This made it far easier to implement draconian policies that actively dehumanized those afflicted. Prior to the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, the sentencing ratio of crack vs. cocaine was 100:1. That means that, as the New York Times pointed out, an individual caught with 50 grams of crack would be sentenced to 10 years in prison, while the cocaine equivalent would be possession of 5,000 grams. They are the same drug. But one (cocaine) was associated with upper-class Caucasians and the other (crack) was associated with lower-class people of color --------------------------------------------------. Our mothers are not #sonsofbitches #therealremyredd #Blackmedia #Nationalanthem #americanflag #systemicoppression #changingthenarrative #systemicracism - #regrann