“We tend to regard all of these deaths of despair as suicides in one form or another, and we believe that suicides respond more to prolonged economic conditions than to short-term fluctuations, and especially to the social dysfunctions, such as loss of meaning in the interconnected worlds of work and family life, that come with prolonged economic distress.’”
The quote above comes from Angus Deaton, a British-American economist. In the quote, he describes the phenomenon regarding “deaths of despair”. “Deaths of despair” consist of suicides and deaths from alcoholic liver disease and accidental overdoses from legal and illegal drugs (Deaton, 2017). Essentially, Deaton suggests these deaths are viewed as forms of suicide resulting from issues caused by social and economic environments, which create despair that makes drugs appealing. One finding in the reading that may surprise some people is that, despite the fact that there is a common belief that drug mortality rates are more rampant in African-American communities and lower socioeconomic groups, data is showing otherwise.
I was surprised that these deaths have not been able to be linked to specific economic indicators, such as unemployment in an area. According to the Deaths of Despair or Drug Problems? article, there has been a large rise in drug mortality in Appalachia and the Rust Belt states, but other areas not facing economic decline are also seeing large rises in overdose fatality rates (Ruhm, 2018). Neither the Opioid Epidemic nor the broader epidemic of deaths of despair can be matched to patterns of unemployment or income changes over the past twenty years. In fact, the opioid deaths and deaths of despair were rising before the Great Recession and continued to increase in the years after that, despite large fluctuations in income and jobs (Deaton, 2017). I was also surprised at how Americans, especially caucasian Americans, are primarily dying from these drug overdoses. Even though the United States (with 5% of the world population) creates the greatest Gross Domestic Product in the world, they consume 80% of the world’s opioids (Deaton, 2017). The increase in drug mortality for white Americans has been dramatically larger than African-Americans and Latinos, even though the stereotypical expectations would suggest the opposite. According to the 2011 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Survey, nearly 20% percent of whites have used cocaine, compared with 10% percent of blacks and Latinos (SAMHSA Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2012). Despite the fact that African-American’s are arrested for drug possession more often, higher percentages of whites have also tried hallucinogens, marijuana, pain relievers like OxyContin, and stimulants like methamphetamine (SAMHSA Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2012).
Although there are a lot of competing explanations to explain these findings, Deaton explains that looking at the situation from a longer time frame can provide some clarity. Some reasons why this might be could include the fact that the longer time frame shows the decline of manufacturing jobs and the consequences of the transition to a service-based economy (Deaton, 2017). Due to the fact that manufacturing jobs provided more stability and benefits, people without a college education were able to more easily obtain gainful employment. However, the vast majority of service jobs provide lower wages and rarely include benefits such as healthcare. The loss of good jobs for people who only have obtained a high school degree has led to a crisis of healthcare in rural communities. Obviously this is not an ideal situation for most Americans, and all of these factors drive despair especially among white Americans who may have different/higher expectations due to white privilege, believing they are “real” America. This despair leads them to seek opioid prescriptions, which are more readily available at the doctor’s office to white Americans than African-Americans, which also fuels their addiction (Hansen & Netherland, 2016). This also helps explain why the Opioid Epidemic is more prevalent in America compared to European countries: America has less control over opioids and fewer social safety nets (such as healthcare access) compared to Europe (Deaton, 2017).
References
Deaton, A. (2017, June 8). Economic Aspects of the Opioid Crisis Testimony before the ... Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/37cbd2d6-da98-4d92-87bb-cb2a7ed7b91d/deaton-testimony-060817.pdf
Hansen, H., & Netherland, J. (2016, December). Is the Prescription Opioid Epidemic a White Problem? Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5105018/
Hollingsworth, A., Ruhm, C., & Simon, K. (2017, February 23). Macroeconomic Conditions and Opioid Abuse. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://www.nber.org/papers/w23192
Ruhm, C. (2018, January 05). Deaths of Despair or Drug Problems? Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://www.nber.org/papers/w24188
SAMHSA Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. (2012, November). Results from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Findings. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/2011MHFDT/2k11MHFR/Web/NSDUHmhfr2011.htm
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