Rewriting the Narrative Around Drug Use

REWRITING

THE NARRATIVE

AROUND DRUG USE

By Catalina Bonanata

PREFACE:

The increasingly concerning drug crisis in the United States has gained more and more attention in the news media. Mainstream news media has done the communities affected a disservice, perpetuating stereotypes and misconceptions.

This presentation aims to serve as a guide for journalists to use when reporting on this issue. By understanding the information presented and following the steps provided, I encourage journalists to take a more holistic and accurate approach. We need to understand that changing the news media narrative means bringing real change to the affected communities.

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

Identifying and Recognizing the Issue
Understanding: Our Role and Our Change
Contextualizing and Understanding
Check the Checklist
My Vision- the impact we can have

1. Identifying and Recognizing the Issue

My recent media consumption has made me hyperaware of the dehumanizing, criminalizing, and stigmatizing narrative news media has constructed around people struggling with substance use disorder (SUD). Inappropriate language is constantly used across news sources. The accepted terms 'drug addict' or 'drug abuser' are also problematic as they put one's addiction before their value as a person. Furthermore, it is not only the language but the types of stories that are told and the framing used. Examples below illustrate.

Source: The New York Times

This is a misleading headline. The word 'embraces' connotes a positive and encouraging attitude from the Rhode Island government, which is not the case in the harm reduction model the state has adopted. "Drug consumption sites" is also misleading as it omits the purpose and research behind them, illustrating them as solely recreational.

The language used, especially the degrading term "junkies", is stigmatizing and dehumanizing. Through the use of the word, this headline degrades people who use drugs and also aids their negative reputation by blaming them for the uncleanness of the subway.

Source: New York Post

This story chooses to focus on the criminality of drug use, rather than on the people affected by it. Once again, the derogatory term 'junkie' is used. The tone suggests mockery from the people affected towards the police, adding to the criminalization of these individuals.

This story also uses derogatory language and criminalizes the affected population. It does so by playing on the innocence of children who are exposed to this issue.

These all aggravate the issue. These are all examples of irresponsible journalism.

2. Understanding: Our Role, Our Change

One of the roles of news media in our modern society is creating and perpetuating stereotypes and schemas that allow society to understand issues. By this, I mean that the media we consume shapes how we see and think about certain things. This is why the way a group of people is represented in the media matters and is important that that representation is holistic and accurate.

Even the slightest exposure to news media makes it clear that the coverage of the drug epidemic in the United States has not been carried out in this way. People have been turned into numbers and statistics with no personality or experience attached to them. People dealing with drug addiction have been dehumanized and stigmatized as criminals and as dangers to our society. A narrative has been created that dehumanizes, criminalizes, and stigmatizes those affected by this condition.

It is this failure to understand the real issue behind the drug epidemic and to conceptualize the individuals struggling as people, not just drug addicts, that prevents us from moving toward alleviating this issue. I believe that the end to the drug epidemic starts with adequate media coverage that would work towards destigmatizing SUD. This destigmatization would allow people to embrace the help people need and the changes to be made without stereotypes getting in the way.

Evidence of the negative impact of inadequate coverage is explained by Dr. Jonathan Avery who researches society’s negative attitudes towards addiction. While explaining why Narcan, a drug used to reverse an opioid overdose, is not readily available he explained that the “bigger obstacle is stigma… [it shaped the language we use to talk about addiction”. He presents a 2010 study by the Center for Addiction Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital which showed that responders were more likely to say that an individual should be punished for drug use when described as a “substance abuser” rather than someone with “substance use disorder”. Further, a 2018 study analyzed the media reporting on drugs and people who use drugs and found that “news media and governmental beliefs mirror each other and have both adopted a stance that serious drug use…results in criminality”.

The disservice to an affected community is evident and so are the effects of such. Studies like these make it impossible to deny the impact news media can have on such an important issue.

Our words and our stories have power, power to create change. Let's put this power to good use.

3. Contextualizing and Understanding

Drug use is a complex issue. Although generally overlooked as a bad habit, substance use disorder is a real, diagnosticable issue that affects 46.3 million people in the USA alone (2022). Substance use disorder embarks on a variety of addictive drugs, like alcohol and marijuana, but currently the real ‘epidemic’ revolves around opioid use. 9.2 million people misuse opioids in the past year. In 2020, 128 people were dying daily from opioid overdose.

Opioids are a type of drug that is derived from the opium poppy plant which is used in professional settings for pain management. Currently, there are two branches of opioids, legally manufactured medications and illicit narcotics, the most common being fentanyl.

Identifying the cause of this issue is complex. There is not one thing that can be pointed out as the sole contributor. Contributing factors include adverse childhood experiences, genetic predisposition, stress, and other environmental factors.

This issue was declared a national emergency in 2017 by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, which resulted in further allocation of funds and brief success in the alleviation of the crisis. This lasted until the COVID epidemic broke out in early 2020. The uncertainty and isolation lead to more people using in general and increased the number of people using alone, which increases the likelihood of fatal overdose.

The people you are reporting on are dealing with a real mental health issue. Inform yourself of their condition and remember that no two experiences with SUD are the same.

4. The Checklist

Now that you are aware and informed on the issue with accurate information, write your story and check its impact with the following checklist. If several items are checked, I encourage you to reflect on your personal biases and inform yourself further in other to properly amend your story. Stories that check multiple boxes only aggregate this ethical issue in news media and the overall opioid crisis. Check-listing your work shows responsible journalism.

REWRITING

THE NARRATIVE

AROUND DRUG USE

PREFACE:

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

Identifying and Recognizing the Issue

Understanding: Our Role and Our Change

Contextualizing and Understanding

Check the Checklist

My Vision- the impact we can have

1. Identifying and Recognizing the Issue

2. Understanding: Our Role, Our Change

3. Contextualizing and Understanding

4. The Checklist

5. A Note from Me: My Vision of the Impact We can Have