These Pharmaceutical Companies Are Making a Killing Off the Opioid Crisis | The Nation

https://www.thenation.com/article/these-pharmaceutical-companies-are-making-a-killing-off-the-opioid-crisis/

The Most Honest Language I Have Read About Race and Addiction

The above link is from an internet article from a mainstream news organization. The words anger me, but that’s not all they do to me.
Despite the fact that the white face of the opioid crisis tends to elicit the sort of public and political empathy that was never offered to black crack addicts in the 1980s, drug use remains highly stigmatized.

I Have Brutal Honesty of My Own To Offer

One of my goals in writing this blog is to present honest thoughts that I ordinarily would not say for fear of giving offense. I will write the thoughts here bc I believe, though I cannot prove, that our forbidden thoughts are very similar and we can find a community within honesty despite the apparently divisive nature of the opinions. My honest thought, when I heard that whites are suffering with addiction was “Good for them.” My true feeling was one of relief because now that addiction is a white thing too, it’s much more accepted. As a black or half black, person with addictions, I feel more accepted by society, and on a deeper level, I can accept myself because, you see, white people do it too. If it makes them happy it can’t be that bad, to paraphrase a popular song. If white people do it, it can’t be that bad. I am ashamed to feel the need for validation by joining white people. I guess years and years of hearing black people clamor for integration and strive to get away from other black people, created my psychic script. I was watching a skit with comedian Dave Chapelle and there was a line that went something like:

“You know things are going well for him because everything in his life is white.”

And yes, I am seeking validation through an alliance of sorts with Dave Chapelle. I’d love to feel ok within myself, by myself. Not there yet.