here's how politicians talk about addiction

Politicians seem to constantly blame Mexican cartels moving across the southern border as the cause of the addiction crisis, and say that we must strengthen the border in order to prevent our fellow American citizens from dying.

This narrative misses so much its almost impossible to list it all out.

First of all, people have a right to use substances as they see fit. Yes, all substances. Substance use is a natural part of the human experience, there's no reason to criminalize it. Overdoses are awful, but the cause of overdoses is misinformation, unsafe usage, and addiction- most of which can be solved through decriminalization (so that people can have access to information, testing, and safe usage practices). Some overdoses are caused by lacing. I don't have a singular solution for how to address lacing. But if substances are decriminalized and people can have more education then testing, safe sourcing, and calling medical services when needed (which people are discouraged from doing when things are criminalized) may reduce overdose deaths.

The next part of this is addiction. Addiction is not a mental disorder or disease as many people believe it to be. In reality, addiction is a symptom to other mental issues and social stressors. Addiction is a response to chronic depression, dissatisfaction, boredom, and anxiety (among other things). Boosting social supports and improving the mental health industry (a complicated task in and of itself) is a far better response to addiction than cutting off supply (which will only lead to greater crime), criminalizing usage and sale (which will only cause more people to end up in prison and with charges, perpetuating cycles of poverty).

Make no mistake: These politicians do not care about you. They don't care about your addicted family members, friends, lovers, or community members. They care about money. There is insane money in the prison industry, and many companies with a hand in the private prison industries lobby these politicians to pass legislation that benefits THEIR bottom line. The politicians love it because it makes their jobs easier. That's who these politicians work for, not you. When they say they they want to strengthen the border to stop the supply to save Americans- they're lying. They don't care about saving the average addicted American. They just think they're junkies, or white trash, or crackheads. What they care about is lining the pockets of corporate America. 

And it's insane that they frame the issue as MEXICANS coming in and infiltrating our (WASP) neighborhoods. They care about you if you're a wasp, while you're a wasp. Never forget that whiteness is a delicate social construct. Once you become a criminal (your usage was criminalized) or poor (you lost your job and mismanaged finances because addition took over your life) or disabled (they label your usage as a sign of illness and sickness) many of your privileges as a white person are able to be pulled out from under you. So you see how these politicians construct a narrative where Mexicans are destroying our nation and neighborhoods through polluting whiteness with drugs. Meanwhile they completely ignore the fact that the government itself and pharmaceutical companies are the ones to blame for many of the current drug epidemics we're facing (fentanyl is just another opioid).

And a large part of the "we need to strengthen the southern border" thing is just plain old xenophobia, too.