Rhetoric of the Opioid Epidemic: Deaths of Despair in America

(Hardback)

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Rhetoric of the Opioid Epidemic demonstrates that framing the epidemic as a medical issue instead of an effect of moral failing holds more potential for solving the epidemic through medical treatment and reconnecting sufferers back to society. This rhetorical move separates the opioid epidemic from the criminal and immoral frames that were cast upon the crack epidemic and initial framing of the AIDS epidemic. Popular culture and governmental response case studies include: President Trumps March 19, 2018 address to the nation, ODMAP produced by the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking in January 2017, news stories from national sources dating from 2015 to 2020 about the chronic pain management debate, two documentaries, Heroin(e) (2017) and One Nation Under Stress: Deaths of Despair in the United States (2019), and Ben is Back (2018).

Reviews

"The opioid epidemic is often framed as either a legal or public health problem. In this insightful work, Tiara Good approaches it as a rhetorical problem and examines the ways opioid addiction has become meaningful in American culture. Moving confidently across cinematic, political, governmental, and press accounts, Good explores the processes through which we have come to talk and feel about this public health crisis and the way these discourses have shaped our policies and practices."

-- Kendall Phillips, Syracuse University

"This is a smart and deeply humane book. Its essential reading for anyone interested in the opioid epidemicbut even more broadly, Prof. Goods insights should jump start a conversation, in academic and beyond, about how our rhetoric can create and compound the suffering of people caught up in any epidemic. At its best, rhetorical scholarship seeks to make the world a better place, and this is rhetorical scholarship at its best."

-- Jeremy David Engels, Penn State University

"Much has been written about the opioid and deaths of despair epidemics from the vantage point of the two being unrelated, albeit co-occurring, tragedies. However, Dr. Good explores the two as a syndemic with common underlying causes rooted in poverty, inequality, trauma, hopelessness, and opportunistic greed. This is a must-read for medical professionals, legislators, and the countless families harmed by the co-occurring crises."

-- Paul Coelho, Medical Director of Salem Health Pain Clinic

Author Bio

Tiara K. Good is faculty in the Communication Studies Department at Western Oregon University.