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Photos of Civil War veterans showing injuries and amputations.

America’s First Opioid Crisis Grew Out Of the Carnage Of The Civil War

Tens of thousands of sick and injured soldiers became addicted.
by Michael E. Ruane via Retropolis on December 1, 2021

How Race Made the Opioid Crisis

The fundamental division between “dope” and medicine has always been the race and class of users.
by Donna Murch via Boston Review on August 27, 2019

A Blizzard of Prescriptions

Three recent books explore different aspects of opiate addiction in America.
by Emily Witt via London Review of Books on April 4, 2019
Shafer Commission
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Nixon Made a Mistake on Pot. Will Trump Do the Same with Opioids?

Decades after Nixon waged war on pot, Trump is doing the some with opioids. It could make things worse.
by Emily Dufton via Made By History on April 20, 2018
Ad for children's medicine.

How Advertising Shaped the First Opioid Epidemic

What the first opioid epidemic can teach us about the second.
by Jon Kelvey via Smithsonian on April 3, 2018
Bottle of OxyContin.

The Family That Built an Empire of Pain

The Sackler dynasty’s ruthless marketing of painkillers has generated billions of dollars—and millions of addicts.
by Patrick Radden Keefe via The New Yorker on October 30, 2017
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We’ve Spent a Century Fighting the War on Drugs. It Helped Create an Opioid Crisis.

The disastrous consequences of focusing on law enforcement and criminality.
by Matthew R. Pembleton via Made By History on August 31, 2017

What the "Crack Baby" Panic Reveals About The Opioid Epidemic

Journalism in two different eras of drug waves illustrates how strongly race factors into empathy and policy.
by Vann R. Newkirk II via The Atlantic on July 16, 2017
Syringe and pills.
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How Sensationalism Compounds the Opioid Crisis

Instead of playing on emotions, we need to destigmatize addiction.
by Claire D. Clark via Made By History on July 5, 2017
Volunteers at Big Creek Missions in Leslie County, Kentucky

Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood

I’ve been going back to eastern Kentucky for over a decade. Since 2016, something there has changed.
by Bradley Devlin via The American Conservative on April 22, 2024
Woman holding packages of naloxone.
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The Nixon-Era Roots of Today’s Opioid Crisis

The Nixon administration saw methadone as a way to reduce crime rather than treat addiction.
by Zoe Adams via Made By History on April 20, 2023
DR. JOHN J. CRAVEN, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH AND THE PHYSICIAN WHO LATER ATTENDED JEFFERSON DAVIS, PERFORMS AN OPERATION DURING THE 1863 SIEGE OF CHARLESTON. THE DOCTOR APPEARS TO BE APPLYING A SPLINT TO THE LEG OF A PATIENT WHILE A MAN BEHIND HIM SEEMS TO BE HOLDING A WHITE COTTON CLOTH, LIKELY SOAKED IN CHLOROFORM, OVER THE PATIENT'S MOUTH AND FACE. | LOCATION: MORRIS ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. (PHOTO BY CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES)

America Has Been Through An Opioid Crisis Before

America’s first opioid crisis came after its bloodiest war, but the lessons of the original debacle have been lost in history.
by Jonathan S. Jones via Vice on April 9, 2021
A worker removes the Sackler name from a building at Tufts University in 2019.

The Problem of Pain

It’s easier to blame individuals for the opioid crisis than to attempt to diagnose and cure the ills of a society.
by Sophie Pinkham via Dissent on April 5, 2021

Inside the Story of America’s 19th-Century Opiate Addiction

Doctors then, as now, overprescribed the painkiller to patients in need, and then, as now, government policy had a distinct bias.
by Erick Trickey via Smithsonian on January 4, 2018
Bottle of OxyContin.
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While Government Cracked Down On Illegal Drugs, Big Pharma Hooked Millions On Opioids

The racist roots of the opioid crisis.
by David Herzberg, Matthew R. Pembleton via Made By History on October 30, 2017

From Teddy Roosevelt to Trump: How Drug Companies Triggered an Opioid Crisis a Century Ago

Americans, warned President Teddy Roosevelt's newly appointed opium commissioner in 1908, 'have become the greatest drugs fiends in the world.'
by Nick Miroff via Retropolis on October 17, 2017
A nurse passing a cup with methadone through a glass window.
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History Exposes the Flaw in RFK Jr.'s Drug Treatment Plan

Kennedy wants to create "wellness drug rehabilitation farms." But the U.S. tried it before, and it didn't work.
by Melody Glenn via Made By History on January 30, 2025
Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson visit the Fletcher family in Inez, Kentucky, in 1964.

Who’s to Blame for White Poverty?

Dismantling it requires getting the story right.
by Elizabeth Catte via Boston Review on September 5, 2024
Sticker showing the slogan: "Reparations Now!" and photo of Tulsa burning.

What’s Really at Stake in The Tulsa Race Massacre Reparations Trial

With over 100 lawsuits dismissed, a last-ditch effort is underway to force the city to put into legal record what happened after that day.
by Caleb Gayle via The Emancipator on May 21, 2024
Ozempic injection and box
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For 150 Years, We’ve Sought a Scientific Solution To Cure Addiction

A miracle cure for addiction may not be around the corner.
by Simon Torracinta via Made By History on July 11, 2023
Protesters holding anti-War on Drugs signs with a red target printed over them

How the Drug War Dies

A few decades ago, the left and the right, politicians and the public, universally embraced the criminalization of drug use. But a new consensus has emerged.
by Maia Szalavitz via The Nation on March 21, 2022
Two unidentified soldiers in Union cavalry uniforms with sword share a drink in front of painted backdrop showing camp.

Manhood, Madness, and Moonshine

Civil War veterans could be unmanned by drinking too much, and their service did not insulate them from postwar blights on their manhood.
by Dillon Carroll via Nursing Clio on October 14, 2021
original

The Drunkard’s Progress

Two hundred years ago, it was hard for Americans to miss the message that they had a serious drinking problem.
by Benjamin Breen on January 17, 2019

Happy, Healthy Economy

Growth is only worth something if it makes people feel good.
by Livia Gershon via Longreads on August 6, 2018

Timothy Snyder’s Bleak Vision

"The Road to Unfreedom," Timothy Snyder's book on Russian influence around the world, is built on contradiction and conspiracy.
by Sophie Pinkham via The Nation on May 3, 2018

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