Stacey ˗ ღ ˎˊ˗’s Reviews > Liquid Handcuffs: Policing and Punishment in Methadone Clinics and the Future of Opioid Addiction Treatment > Status Update

“The words used to describe a serious health problem, addiction, were steeped in the language of war and violence. There were foes to be defeated. Nixon promoted a ‘law and order’ agenda, and enforcement disproportionately targeted communities of color. The focus on dismantling structural inequalities ended, and a backlash against interventions to end poverty and inequality began.”

“The clinic system is a creation of the War on Drugs, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) designed it, and at the same time it is a refuge from it. People who take methadone swap the dangers of illicit drug use—arrest, incarceration, violence, overdose, and death—for a safe supply of the medication in a setting that punishes, monitors, and controls them.”