Netherland, J., & Hansen, H. B. (2016). “The war on drugs that wasn’t: Wasted whiteness, “Dirty doctors,” and race in media coverage of prescription opioid misuse. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 40(4), 664–686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-016-9496-5
The article “The war on drugs that wasn’t: Wasted whiteness, “Dirty doctors,” and race in media coverage of prescription opioid misuse” by
Netherland and Hansen examines the racial biases in media coverage of the opioid epidemic. The authors argue that the media often depicts
opioid addiction as a problem of poor and non-white individuals, ignoring the reality that opioid addiction affects people of all races and
socioeconomic statuses. Furthermore, the authors discuss how the media has portrayed prescription opioid misuse as a result of “dirty doctors”
rather than holding pharmaceutical companies accountable for their role in the epidemic. The article highlights the concept of “wasted
whiteness,” which refers to the idea that white people who struggle with addiction are portrayed sympathetically while non-white people with
addiction are criminalized. Finally, the authors call for a shift in the media narrative to acknowledge the true nature of the opioid epidemic and
to address the systemic issues that contribute to addiction.
- “Media coverage of prescription opioid misuse is characterized by the same racializing dynamics that have shaped the coverage of other drug problems: it overrepresents urban problems, ignores rural and suburban ones, portrays Black and Latino users as pathological, and whites as victims” (Netherland et al, 2016).
- “By locating the problem within individual doctors and users, this narrative deflects attention from systemic issues that make opioid misuse more likely, such as the aggressive marketing of painkillers and a lack of access to addiction treatment” (Netherland et al, 2016).
