Where’s the Safety Net?: How Stripping Social Programming Increases Drug Overdose Deaths in Rural Communities

• In Event: Drugs in Rural and Remote Communities: Examining the Role of Locational Context and Cultural Geography (Organized by the Division of Rural Criminology)

Abstract

A 2018 Center for Disease Control report revealed that the overall national life expectancy declined for the second time in three years. A major reason for this decline is the over production of dangerous opioids that have increased deaths related to opioids and heroin. While drug overdose deaths are the obvious focus of studies on these deaths, suicides are also a consequence to consider. With the attempted regulation of opioid distribution, we now have people whose pain goes untreated. Consequently, suicides increased 3.7 percent in 2017 and drug overdose deaths surpassed, even at their pinnacle, traffic accidents, HIV, and gun violence deaths. Many drug-related deaths continue to occur in rural states and communities across the nation. These regions, as a result of near-sighted and punitive based policy initiatives, continue to struggle to support the needs of many of their citizenry. We argue that the state should be held responsible for the alarming numbers of drug overdose deaths seen in these regions. Using a social harm perspective, we believe it is reasonable to theorize that the states stripping of programming and funds from treatment minded organizations stems from racial and class-based structures often used to exploit and subjugate these rural communities.

Authors

• Stephen Toppings Young, Marshall University

• Brian Pitman, Pacific Lutheran University