In the past and currently, I’ve been extremely interested in crime and the many different types of it. From serial killers to serial rapists (I’ve most recently read about Larry Nassar http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/22046031/michigan-state-university-doctor-larry-nassar-surrounded-enablers-abused-athletes-espn and binge-watched Mindhunter in about 3 days), to drug abusers, I’ve always been intrigued reading articles and stories about people involved with these crimes. In addition to the abusers and culprits of these crimes, I am also interested in the legal aspect, from the perspectives of officers and lawyers.
I watched a Netflix docu-series over winter break that approaches America’s war on drugs from the perspectives of the dealer, the user and first responders. Dope was interesting in it’s portrayal of the war on drugs, but it also left me with a few questions about how legitimate the dealers were who were used on the show, but nonetheless, the viewers are given legitimate facts and figures intertwined with interviews and information about the drugs. There are four episodes, the main one I connected with was the episode on heroin usage in Baltimore, Maryland, a place I live near and frequent when I am home. Baltimore is referred to in the show as the “heroin capital of America,” and is something I wouldn’t have known without watching the second episode of this show. Thinking back to this show after reading the blog post prompt, and the reading, I think I am specifically interested in working with this topic for the semester.
Specifically, I think I’m most interested in working with the heroin and opioid crisis that is affecting the United States. This interest for me I think stems from my family’s involvement with fire and rescue squads and healthcare in Maryland and Pennsylvania. At nearly every family function these crises come up in one form or another. Whether it’s my aunt telling us about how people with serious drug dependencies frequently come into the UrgentCare she manages just trying to get their hands on a prescription, or my cousins talking about their experiences responding to overdoses and how frequently they preform sternum rubs, the stories are rather alarming and spark questions and concerns. I often wonder how people end up in these situations and it turns out that roughly 80% of heroin users started with prescription pills.
An opioid problem in the United States exists. An increasing heroin problem exists and has been linked to the aforementioned opioid problem. The distribution and lacing of heroin has caused problems for not only the users and dealers by possibly killing them/OD’ing, but it has also put the lives of the first responders in jeopardy, as some of the drugs that heroin can be laced with make the users combative and irrational. I’m curious to look into other countries’ issues with the drug, possibly going back to their healthcare and presence of a prescription pill problem, and see what they do to combat this difficult, quickly-spreading issue. I’ve seen that some European countries like Sweden have set up clinics to give heroin to addicts, but don’t know much more about it than that.
True Crime sorts of shows and podcasts are really on the upswing! My mom has been obsessed with Dateline and shows of that nature for years, but it seems higher production documentaries, mini-series, and podcasts are replacing(?) that genre of the quickly-made-and-templated 60 minute national broadcast news show.
You did a good job narrating through your experience from your interest in these sorts of shows to your family’s experience from their first responder perspective. I also found it interesting toward the end where you talk about other countries. I often wonder why opioids have recently been such a large problem here and if that were true elsewhere. It could also be worth looking not only elsewhere in the present but here (or elsewhere) in the past.
Crack cocaine was an “epidemic” for a while and it led to some pretty awful policy, policies that disproportionately affected people of color and people in poorer urban settings. Meanwhile, powdered cocaine–also popular around this time–was popular among wealthier and whiter people, and the crime policies around this substance compared to crack included far less severe punishments. It might be interesting to see if there are similar parallels, even if this current drug crisis is less explicitly racialized compared to the 1980s and crack.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with this semester!