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There is a story that white families tell themselves about how their loved one was tricked into getting addicted by unscrupulous doctors, and that's why they went into a destructive spiral. Fetterman actually is running an ad implicitly accusing Oz of doing that in the PA Senate race. And that story seems to be mostly false. As you say, it's not an explosion of prescriptions causing the crisis. And there is a story that black families tell themselves, about how their family members were tricked into getting hooked on crack by the CIA or the government or the media or music, and that's why they went on their destructive spiral.
There is another point often raised, about how we assign harsher punishments for crack than for cocaine, and this has classist and racist implications. But there is a meaningful difference there that comes from the actual class difference. A trust fund brat who develops a coke habit might take five years to snort their inheritance up their nose. A lower-working class guy who starts doing crack might be missing rent next month. Middle and upper classes have more slack to endure the externalities of a severe drug addiction. They have a longer lead time and more offramps before they get to the point of committing property crimes against strangers.
And more importantly for this comparison, they have stronger, richer personal networks to prey on. From what I've seen in person, a heavy pill addiction can easily run $100 a day, at roughly a dollar per mg. That rate of capital outflow will ruin a family. It's a cliche. "They both have good jobs, how are they having money problems?" The answer is that one of them has a drug problem. And when they run out of personal slack, they take advantage of family members, lie and steal and cheat and defraud. The lower-class crackhead turning predator looks like a string of robberies and break-ins and muggings. The pillhead looks like "Aunt Debbie says to watch out for cousin Phil. Apparently he stole a ton of money from Uncle Sheldon, yeah, drugs."
No one really wants to tell Aunt Debbie and Uncle Sheldon that their son Phil is a miserable piece of shit. It's easier, kinder, less awkward, to blame the big evil pharma companies.
I think you need to flip those in this sentence. Otherwise, you're good.
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