Do ALL Addicts Matter?

I love the smell of hypocrisy in the air…don’t you?

I was reading an editorial that debated the pros and cons of “Mandatory Rehabilllitation” versus Criminal Incarceration as a remedy for drug addiction, and it got me thinking…

On October 26, 2017, Donald Trump declared the “opiod crisis” a “Health Emergency”. On February 9, 2018, Congress passed a spending bill that alloted 6 BILLION dollars to help eradicate the “Opiod Crisis”.

*sigh*

Do you remember the 80s? You know, Reagan, big hair, even bigger big hair bands, side ponytails, Reading Rainbow, Iran Contra (more on this later…), He-Man and She-ra, crack in the ghettos (this too), Teddy Ruxpin…you know.

I find many people don’t remember a lot from the eighties. I know I don’t. It’s not because I was young or the country was in a persistant state of euphoria due to the death of disco…no, we don’t remember a lot, because so much was kept from us, the American people. Its not as if the 80s held a monopoly on cover ups, quite the contrary, actually. A lot of work has been, and is being, done to hide certain efforts of the government and ensure they stayed under the radar…WAY under the radar. But the 1980s was a particularly “covert” decade.

How so, you ask?

Well, now that time has passed, and the interwebs has connected all of us, information is much easier to come by. On the front, in the 80s, we were inundated with “Just say no!” and D.A.R.E., while at the same time, crack was flooding the “ghettos”. Crack addicts on Skid Row to Times Square were dying while, unbenounced to them, they were also funding what would later be known as “Iran-Contra”. People of color’s lives, futures and dignity were stolen by their own government. Its not surprising to hear that the US Gov stepped on the backs of Brown and poor people to futher their own cause…but the flagrant display of hypocrisy that followed was, and is, nauseating. There are many theories (some conspiratorial in nature) as to how the crack trade was allowed to continue and grow uninhibited for so long. There is an ongoing debate over just how deeply the CIA and State Department were involved in protecting and financing drug traffickers whose product would eventually end up on the streets as crack. It is documented that proceeds from said traffickers/cartels were used in order to train Iranian rebels and circumvent the arms embargo that was in place for Iran. Its a very long and somewhat complicated story, and, if you haven’t already, I encourage you to look it up. Here is a blurb from Wikipedia (I know…sorry):

A 1986 investigation by a sub-committee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (the Kerry Committee), found that “the Contra drug links included[,]” amongst other connections, “ …. Payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies.”[2]

I always think its funny that weapons and military training are considered “humanitarian assistance”

Im not going to explain the in’s and out’s of the findings, but here is a visual aide to help you get the gist of it.

The CRACK Journey

The OPIOID Journey

SO, basically, there was a serious drug crisis in the 80s. Crack was flooding the ghettos, and peole were dying at an alarming rate as a result. Whether or not the US Government was proactive in promoting the drug trade will debated for years to come. Theories range from the absurd (crack dropped into the inner cities from helicopters) to the even MORE absurd (they were aware but not involved in any way).

There is ONE thing we know for sure — The CIA and the Reagan Administration knew what was going on…and DID NOTHING TO STOP IT. Their inaction makes them guilty, their silence and cover-up makes them complicit.

I remember when President Reagan allotted billions to help crack addicts kick this dangerous and deadly habit. It was great to see our government step up and help fellow Americans who had found themselves in a seemingly hopeless situation that may have not been 100% their fault.

Oh. Wait. Oops…. I think I’m remembering that wrong.

The government did go into the ghettos because of crack. Their fingerprints were all over the lubrication and immunity that allowed it to spread. Their involvement strengthened the grip that crack had on ALL of its addicts…especially in the ghettos. Why the ghettos and inner cities? Well, let’s think: What’s in “ghettos”? Poor People of Color.

In the eyes of the government and others, do Black people count or matter for anything other than gerrymandering and Hip-Hop?

That question has been answered repeatedly in the past few years..no, past few decades…no, wait, past few centuries.

But if you have forgotten, let me remind you:

So, if ALL lives matter, then where was the declaration of a “Health Emergency” during the crack epidemic? Where was the allotment of money and resources to “help people help themselves”?

Knowing that the CIA and State Department protected the free flow of crack, it would behoove them to undo something they had worked so hard to create. Providing rehabilitaion wasn’t an option…that would be admittting that crack was bad, and, in turn, they were bad for effectively pumping it into the inner cities.

This is my re-imaginging of their thought process:

So, what to do? Can’t provide rehab — that would mean admitting fault. Can’t ignore them — the publication of photos showing what is really going on in the ghettos and on skid row is a terrible PR move. Hmmmm…. What to do?

I KNOW!!! PRISON!!

Let’s pass some laws that will hand down excrutiatingly long sentences for small infractions surrounding drugs! Let’s call it “The War on Drugs”! People like war! By the time they all realize it will never work, and in many cases, will make the problem MUCH worse, it will be too late! It won’t matter…GENIUS!

So, that happened.

Let’s flip the script real quick: if we use the “ALL lives Matter” folks’ own logic…this is what a response to a“Health Emergency” should look like in the United States of America:

…but its not, and never has been. White, suburban opiod addicts are human. Black and Brown crack addicts (no matter how they got there) in the “ghetto” are not.

There have been millions of deaths, generations destroyed, education denied, and humanity erased as a result of the “War on Drugs”.

Black lives don’t matter…

In case you forgot.

— — — — — — — — — — —

Follow me!! We can connect/debate/argue/support and share all over the internet! twitter.com/Nicole1234567 www.facebook.com/nicolemhunt www.instagram.com/nml27/