Policing pain: A qualitative study of non-criminal justice approaches to managing opioid overdose during the COVID-19 pandemic. Issue 2 (3rd April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Trappen, Sandra L.; McLean, Katherine J.
• Is Part Of: Journal of prevention & intervention in the community. Volume 49:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 136
• Page End: 151
• Publication Date: 2021-04-03
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- deindustrialization -- harm-reduction -- opioids -- overdose -- policing -- social isolation; Preventive health services -- Periodicals; Preventive health services -- United States -- Periodicals; Community health services -- Periodicals; Community health services -- United States -- Periodicals; 362.1
• DOI: 10.1080/10852352.2021.1908206
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1085-2352

Abstract

Abstract: Opioid related drug overdose deaths are a leading cause of death and injury in the United States. While research demonstrates that where people live has a major impact on drug use and abuse, most work looks at social dynamics at the county level or under the rubric of the urban/rural divide. Only recently, scholarship has become attuned to the post-industrialized areas located on the fringes of urban cores. Data presented in here are from field research conducted in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, a small river town located east of Pittsburgh. Once a thriving industrial city, it is now deteriorated and has documented high levels of overdose experience. Preliminary results suggest that McKeesport residents, even before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), practice social and physical distancing as a way of life; data indicate how the pandemic potentially exacerbates the risk of accidental opioid overdose among a population defined by both geographic and social isolation.