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Friend, I’m delighted to let you know about Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Opioids in America. This new book is co-authored by DPA Managing Director of Research and Academic Engagement Jules Netherland, DPA Board Member Helena Hansen, and DPA partner David Herzberg.
This important book has been years in the making, tracing how race has shaped the opioid crisis in the United States. Learn more by registering to join us next Thursday, April 12, for a virtual discussion with the authors.
Since Nixon declared the drug war, its targets were Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and poor people. The response was zero tolerance and stiff prison sentences. In the past two decades, media images of the surprisingly white “new face” of the U.S. opioid crisis abounded, and white families and the media started calling for a public health response to drug problems. Whiteout traces how white privilege and a century of structural racism in drug policy and in profit-oriented medical industries helped create the overdose crisis. Using compelling first person narratives and interviews, it shows how racial capitalism and U.S. drug policy is toxic for all Americans.
I’m honored to share this book with you. Jules is not only a trusted colleague, but a close friend. Over the last decade working together at DPA, I’ve seen her grit, expertise, and determination to win firsthand. From helping lead our drug policy reform campaigns in New York to now heading up our Department of Research and Academic Engagement. Her wide range of experience at DPA and beyond has taught me so much and advanced our organization’s mission to end the drug war.
Helena Hansen is a valued DPA Board Member and currently interim chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and interim director of the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. She brings unique expertise and understanding to the social and racial dynamics of drug policy.
And David Herzberg is a U.S. drug historian with a focus on pharmaceuticals. He is currently Professor of History at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) with work that has appeared in numerous scholarly and medical journals, in popular media, and in two books.
Their new book is an incredible accomplishment in the field of drug policy. It is a must-read to understand how structural racism and the drug war impacts us all. As the tragic overdose crisis continues to claim lives, this book provides context that remains as relevant as ever.
I encourage you to check out the book and join our virtual conversation with the authors next week.
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Sincerely,
Kassandra Frederique
Executive Director
Drug Policy Alliance |
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