Some historians have pointed out that societal attitudes toward addiction are largely driven by views toward the groups who are perceived as addicted. For example, in the 19th century, most addicts were middle- and upper-class white women, and addiction was generally tolerated. However, in the 20th century, when addiction became more of a problem among young adult males using drugs recreationally (and sometimes becoming addicted to them), drug addicts were often demonized as evil. This issue may be considered in the light of the 21st century, when prescription drug abuse and addiction are often regarded as almost a white-collar type of crime, whereas the abuse of crack cocaine and heroin is seen as very bad or wicked.

Simply put, most middle-class and upper-class individuals in the 21st century do not abuse crack or heroin, although they may abuse prescription drugs or even powdered cocaine. According to Caroline Jean Acker in Creating the American Junkie: Addiction Research in the Classic Era of Narcotic Control, "We now have in the United States a two-tier system of response to drug dependence: treatment for the middle and upper classes and incarceration for most others, including the poor, the uninsured, ethnic minorities, and immigrants. Employment status, race, gender, and class all influence which response an individual encounters."

According to Charles F. Levinthal in Drugs, Society, and Criminal Justice and according to other authors, racist fears have played a significant role in the way drugs have been regarded in the United States; for example, some individuals in the early 20th century mistakenly believed cocaine would spur African Americans to rape white women in the South, while opium use would result in unwanted sexual contact between Chinese individuals and white Americans. Marijuana was believed to make Latinos violent.

In addition, some individuals feared that cocaine abuse among blacks would cause them to attack whites. Says the author David Musto, "The fear of the cocainized black coincided with the peak of lynchings, legal segregation, and voting laws all designed to remove political and social power from him. Fear of cocaine might have contributed to the dread the black would rise above 'his place,' as well as reflecting the extent to which cocaine may have released defiance and retribution. So far, evidence does not suggest that cocaine caused a crime wave but rather that anticipation of black rebellion inspired white alarm."

The fear was so intense that bizarre myths developed, such as the myth that blacks using cocaine would be impervious to .32 caliber bullets, as a result of which some police departments switched to .38 caliber revolvers.

Musto says by 1914, politicians, physicians, pharmacists, and the news media were convinced opiates and cocaine caused regular users to become criminals and/or to lose their mind, and these drugs were associated with outcast subgroups or foreigners. Says Musto, "Cocaine raised the specter of the wild Negro, opium the devious Chinese, morphine the tramps in the slums; it was feared that use of all these drugs was spreading into the 'higher classes.' "

In the late 1980s (and arguably in the present) many experts believed that there were distinctive differences in the way addicted individuals were treated, depending on their race, socioeconomic status, and employment status. According to Acker in Creating the American Junkie:

For the poor, the unemployed, the uneducated, the uninsured, and people of color, drug use was more likely to occur in a setting of concentrated social problems, and users were typically subject to arrest and incarceration. For the middle and upper classes, for those with jobs, education, and health coverage, legal sanctions were less common, and numerous resources were available to support individuals seeking to end destructive drug use. These might include an employer willing to hold a job while the individual completed treatment and health insurance or personal assets to cover the cost of treatment.

References:

1)         Acker, Caroline Jean.Creating the American Junkie: Addiction Research in the Classic Era of Narcotic Control. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

2)         Levinthal, Charles F. "The History of Drug Use and Drug Legislation." In Drugs, Society, and Criminal Justice. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2006.

3)         Musto, David F. The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control. 3d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

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