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OK, that is complete bullshit.

Yes, many people got addicted to opiates originally through actual episodes of physical pain, but many didn't. And trying to pretend that that's the reason we treated black inner-city addicts like complete shit, but white folks get compassion and empathy, is absurd. It also doesn't explain why powder cocaine, which only rich people could afford, was criminalized much more heavily than crack, which was for poor people.




I'm not seeing sympathy for meth, and that's largely white people. It's seldom prescribed in ways that addict people, unlike opiates.

There exist white crack addicts. They also don't get sympathy.

The key question: can we reliably assume that an addiction started for recreational reasons? If yes: no sympathy.




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