The opioid crisis prompted treatment-focused policy, unlike prior drug epidemics

Evidence

Unlike the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s or the heroin epidemic of the 1960s, which were largely confined to urban areas and minority populations, the opioid crisis’s epicenter was in White, rural America. Not only were the location and demographics of the new drug epidemic markedly different than that of its predecessors, but also the policy response to this new epidemic diverged sharply. Instead of calling for more arrests, prosecutions, and harsher punishments of opioid drug offenders, the policy response has emphasized greater access to treatment and greater harm reduction in the form of expanding distribution of naloxone (an opioid antagonist that stops opioid overdoses), and it has deemphasized criminal justice interventions via programs that divert or “deflect” drug offenders from the CJS entirely. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1086

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: how the demographic face of a drug epidemic — white rural vs. urban minority — dictates whether the state responds with treatment or punishment.
• XREF: Connects to the ‘policy response to substance crises tracks perceived victim demographics’ theme in punishment studies.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1086