logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2023
1h 43m

Racism, Class, and the Opioid Crisis

Daniel Denvir
About this episode

Featuring Helena Hansen, Jules Netherland, and David Herzberg on how American capitalism and its illusions of whiteness both created the opioid crisis and shaped the response to it. We are discussing their book Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Opioids in America.

Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig

Check out our newsletters and vast archives at thedigradio.com

Subscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin and Catalyst bit.ly/digcatalyst

Up next
Jan 30
Minneapolis Fight Back w/ Emilia González Avalos, Greg Nammacher, JaNaé Bates Imari
Featuring Emilia González Avalos, Greg Nammacher, and JaNaé Bates Imari on how Minneapolis achieved its fight back against ICE/Border Patrol occupation. A decade building aligned mass movements has made Minneapolis among the best organized cities in the country. Those carefully-b ... Show More
1h 53m
Jan 26
Silicon Empires w/ Nick Srnicek
Featuring Nick Srnicek on Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI. A deep exploration of the political economy of AI: the fulcrum of the authoritarian tech oligarchy—and of global contests for economic and military dominance. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Buy Cold ... Show More
2h 24m
Jan 16
MAGA Empire w/ Aslı Bâli and Greg Grandin
Featuring Aslı Bâli and Greg Grandin on the MAGA model of US imperialism. Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig Subscribe to the Unite and Win podcast at podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unite-and-win-a-guide-to-workplace-organizing/id1866713309 Check out equator.org for longform ar ... Show More
1h 49m
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2023
Helena Hansen et al., "Whiteout: How Racial Capitalism Changed the Color of Opioids in America" (U California Press, 2023)
In the past two decades, media images of the surprisingly white “new face” of the US opioid crisis abounded. But why was the crisis so white? Some argued that skyrocketing overdoses were “deaths of despair” signaling deeper socioeconomic anguish in white communities. Whiteout: Ho ... Show More
1h 32m
Sep 2023
Blame Capitalism: Degrowing pains
Capitalism isn’t natural, was never inevitable, and endless growth is killing Earth. The final episode of “Blame Capitalism” examines the degrowth movement, whose proponents call to end capitalism as we know it. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, ... Show More
26m 4s
Oct 2019
David Farber, "Crack: Rock Cocaine, Street Capitalism, and the Decade of Greed" (Cambridge UP, 2019)
A shattering account of the crack cocaine years from award-winning American historian David Farber, Crack: Rock Cocaine, Street Capitalism, and the Decade of Greed (Cambridge University Press, 2019) tells the story of the young men who bet their lives on the rewards of selling 'r ... Show More
20m 40s
Jan 2024
Cocaine problems
Growing cocaine demand and booming coca leaf cultivation is fueling unrest in Ecuador. The Economist’s Ana Lankes and Will Freeman of the Council on Foreign Relations explain what’s happening in the place that until recently was Latin America’s safest country. This episode was pr ... Show More
25m 24s
Mar 2024
Fentanyl: War on Drugs 2.0?
Fentanyl is a pharmaceutical drug that can be prescribed by a doctor to treat severe pain. But like its predecessors, that drug has been illegally manufactured and sold by criminal gangs.The president has called the crisis an “American tragedy” but many angles to the epidemic lie ... Show More
29m 43s
Jun 2020
Into an American Uprising: White Accountability
<p>One thing feels different about the current protests we are seeing following the recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery: the composition of the crowds.</p><p>In some parts of the country, white Americans are showing up. They are protesting, taking the ... Show More
27m 40s