Battling Increasing Addiction Rates in African-American Communities

Sep 29, 2022

Welcome to The Opioid Matrix: A Journey Into The Rabbit Hole. We’re seeing an alarming and rapid increase in the rates of opioid addiction and overdoses in African American communities across the country. Disparities in prescription procedures, improper pain management strategies, the pandemic, the defunding of dedicated task forces — these factors are all contributing to this growing problem. In this episode, Michael Brown, the Global Director of Counter-Narcotics Interdiction Partnerships at Rigaku Analytical Devices and one of our expert co-hosts, breaks down the elemental reasons for this rise, and what we can do to stop it.

 

Join us as we discuss:

  • Addressing inequalities in specific communities such as lack of access to treatment centers and economic opportunities.
  • Investing in and rebuilding areas afflicted with drug-related violence.
  • Eliminating trafficking routes.
  • Instituting harm-reduction programs and rebuilding community infrastructure.

 

 

 

Views expressed in this material are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rigaku Analytical Devices.

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Michael W. Brown is the global director of counter-narcotics technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices. He has a distinguished career spanning more than 32 years as a Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). He served as the country attaché in India and Myanmar; During his tour in Myanmar, he provided foreign advisory support for counter narcotic enforcement that, to date, has resulted in the interdiction of over US$250 million in precursor chemicals and implementing the regions first use of Raman spectroscopy to degrade the supply chain for narcotics production. He was also part of a special specialized counter narcotics unit operating in the jungles of South America tasked with locating and destroying drug labs and narcotic supply chains. Most recently he was the DEA Headquarters staff coordinator for the Office of Foreign Operations for the Middle East-Europe-Afghanistan-India. Michael is a graduate of the United States Ranger Training Battalion and has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary technology and management from the University of Eastern Michigan.

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