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“Black Pill” is internet slang that has gained prominence in 2020. It is an alternative to MatrixIt is the binary of the red / blue pill and, unlike “open your mind”, it refers to something that makes you look into the future with absolute and severe pessimism. Last night’s debate was a bulky, bitter black pill. Yet there was a bright, almost beautiful moment that may signal a shift in America’s view of addiction.
It happened during Biden’s response to a question about the current president’s track record. Biden mentioned intelligence pointing to Russian rewards that were awarded to American soldiers when Trump accused his son of receiving millions of dollars from Russia. After the moderator, Chris Matthews tried to scold Trump once more about the rules of the debate that Biden continued, eventually returning to the subject of his family. He recounted his son Beau’s service to the country calling him “a patriot.”
“Are you talking about Hunter?” Trump responded. “He was fired from the army for cocaine use.”
Biden could have sidestepped Trump’s insult to his son Hunter. Instead, he looked directly at the camera and said, “My son, like many people, like many people you know at home, had a drug problem. He has fixed it, he has worked on it. And I’m proud of him. I am proud of my son. “
Hunter Biden battled alcohol and cocaine addiction for much of his adult life. He eventually achieved long periods of sobriety with the help of the Twelve Step Programs and a treatment with the psychedelic plant extract Ibogaine. Joe Biden’s close and personal experience with substance use disorder could indicate the potential for great shifts in our country’s approach to this problem. Hunter’s experience with ibogaine treatment could inspire more studies on the potentially revolutionary substance, which is currently illegal.
Having the president’s son represent the recovery community is a new paradigm. This wouldn’t be the president’s distant relative slipping quietly into a million-dollar rehab for 28 days. This would be the president’s son acknowledging that he is in recovery, that he has smoked crack and has come out the other end of that indelibly narrow glass tunnel. The mere recognition of the problem is profoundly significant: the first of the twelve steps.
Addiction is an area in which reform often comes from those who have passed it. If Hunter continues to use the label of “addict” without shame, and lends his experience and the experience of others in recovery to pertinent political discussions, this could be a ray of optimism during dark times for those in recovery. Especially now when so many people are faced with one of the darkest moments in modern history.
Dark times are the perfect time for people struggling with addiction to relapse. For people with substance use disorder, both good times and bad times can be opportunities to use, but absolutely desperate times like these are especially tempting. Overdose deaths have risen in 40 states since the start of the pandemic, according to the American Medical Association.
Trump views addiction with the same strength / weakness binary through which he views much of the world. Biden’s stance on the issue was a clear and definite point of difference for Biden on a night of confusion. Trump doesn’t seem to even listen to many of his own voters: addiction doesn’t discriminate between race, class, or even the weak from the strong. That does they tend to have the greatest impact on marginalized people, as does the pandemic that now engulfs us. If Trump had a better understanding of addiction, he wouldn’t have tried to throw it in Biden’s face last night. Biden’s proclamation – “I’m proud of him, I’m proud of my son” – was an indication that he understands something else that Trump will never understand, that fighting and surviving hardships can bring a person real strength. It can even strengthen an entire country.
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