The Impact of the Opioid Epidemic On Minorities In Indiana

When a New York State Senator said, “It’s not a ghetto drug. It’s happening to doctor’s kids,” he was referring to opioids. He was also describing two mindsets – one focused on criminality, the other on treating a disease.

And many perceive racial and ethnic implications in these two ways of thinking about the opioid epidemic. The topic is explored in a 90-minute conversation hosted by WFYI’s Side Effects health reporting unit in partnership with the Indiana Minority Health Coalition.

Guests: Jocelyn Bush, MD, specialist in anesthesiology and pain management; Brad Ray, PhD, mental health and criminal justice researcher, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; Ronald Sullivan, director of Harvard’s Criminal Justice Institute; Joselyn Whitticker, president of the Grant County (Indiana) Minority Health Coalition

Moderator: Michael Twyman, PhD, consultant and associate faculty member at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

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Learn more about the Indiana Minority Health Coalition

FSSA official: Indiana may not have enough funding to expand new behavioral care model

Indiana is in the process of transitioning to a new model to deliver behavioral health and crisis services. But the top Family and Social Services Administration official says the agency is concerned about having the necessary funding.