In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs

When the nation’s long-running war against drugs was defined by the crack epidemic and based in poor, predominantly black urban areas, the public response was defined by zero tolerance and stiff prison sentences. But today’s heroin crisis is different. While heroin use has climbed among all demographic groups, it has skyrocketed among whites; nearly 90 percent of those who tried heroin for the first time in the last decade were white.

 

Read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/us/heroin-war-on-drugs-parents.html