Reframing the War on Drugs – a Conversation with German Lopez

It is estimated by STAT that in the next decade up to 650,000 Americans will have died due to an opiate overdose. This loss of life is equivalent to that of the entire city of Baltimore. A horrendous figure which brings to light the seriousness of the opiate crisis facing the US. To find out more I spoke to German Lopez, a journalist for Vox, who recently wrote this excellent piece on the growing opiate crisis and the US policy response.

The story German told me was one of contradiction and hypocrisy. Despite gentler language being used to describe users of opiates in the media and Government, actual policy has remained rooted in the 1980s. German explained to me how the stigma associated with opiates is very different for a number of reasons.

Read full original story here