I personally do not know a lot about what it is like to be
addicted to heroin but I guess I lean on the side of being more skeptical of
some popular representations of drug use and addiction. I agree this is definitely
a source by which many people get common knowledge about drug use and what
addiction is like. Although I have not had very many people close to me
struggle with addiction, I take experiences of others to mean more than how the
media/popular culture portrays drug use and addiction.
Growing up, I would watch a lot of the crime shows. Criminal
minds, law and order, the CSIs, etc. Although these shows were not always
centered on drugs, addiction, and dealers, these characteristics were often associated
with killers, criminals, criminal activity, and “bad guys.” I believe this is
one of many ways that popular culture identifies addicts and drug users as “criminals.”
This is not to say that people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol don’t ever
commit crimes. However, as a kid watching these shows, I completely understand
how these would make people associate victims of addiction or people of color with criminals.
I have a friend who used to be addicted to benzos and although
I don’t know everything about their experience, they would describe this sense
of feeling they had no control over the addiction and at the same time being
very aware they were, in fact, addicted. They described this feeling as scary. When
I think of criminals in crime shows who are struggling with addiction, this is
not something about addiction you often hear. The hardships of dealing with
addiction and the difficulties of getting clean are not aspects of people’s
lives you see, hear, or think about if addicts are labeled and treated as criminals.
Hi! I agree that many popular shows such as Criminal Minds, Law and Order, and CSIs are often portraying people associated with addictions as "criminals" or negative. I also liked how you mentioned that people of color are also associated with being victims of addiction or labeled criminal. The media is continuously and widespread, painting false images of people of color and the addicted. Similarly to how there are stereotypes of people of color, there are also stereotypes about addicts and how an addict looks like. Addicts are often associated with homelessness and criminality. The addict is always suffering and desperate, craving for more to satisfy their addiction. However, this distorts the actual problem of addiction by linking addiction to criminality. The way the United States has attempted to fight the war on drugs by throwing addicts in jails and prisons is worsening the war on drugs. Instead of criminalizing addicts for their addiction, increasing an addicts debt, locking them away in cement cages, and giving them a permanent criminal record that will decrease their chances of starting a better life when they get out of prison will only make these people go back to their addiction. Instead, addicts should be treated with rehab and plans to help them decrease and ultimately diminish their harmful addiction.
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