Opioids are a bipartisan issue because they’ve become a mainstream, white one
Published by The Guardian US on June 9, 2016
The opioid crisis has shifted from the shadows into the mainstream, in part because it now affects white communities that have historically received more attention and empathy. This change reveals how perceptions of race and class shape the urgency of public health responses. Understanding the epidemic means confronting not just addiction itself, but the social biases that determine who gets help and whose suffering gets noticed.