http://www.fortsmithpd.org/NarcoticUnit/PrescDrugCase.asp
The link is to a page full of people who have been arrested for prescription drugs in Arkansas. And I just can’t believe that it includes their photos. When you move your arrow over the photos, they even get bigger. Fancy technology.
Some of the people do, indeed, look like criminals. Some look like drug addicts. Some are old and just look pitiful. Men, women, old, young, all races, but mostly white people. I’m sure there are a few that look like your neighbors. Of course, chronic pain patients are represented in these photos, especially considering the drugs involved in their convictions.
I suppose this police department is showing off, counting the number of people’s lives they ruin by publishing it on the internet. For all eternity. It’s not enough for the criminal injustice system to ruin these people’s lives. No, it’s also important to add all this shame. Because… drug war.
If there’s any police officer out there who wonders why so many people dislike them, well, here you go.
Perhaps chronic pain patients should own this discrimination. Start tattooing bar-code numbers on our forearms so everyone can keep track of us. Perhaps a teardrop for every year we’ve suffered from chronic pain. I suppose we could shave our heads and get “Pain Patient” tattooed on our foreheads — that would be instantly recognizable, just like skin color or sex.
All Things Chronic 
This literally makes me sick! Fort Smith, AR is barely an hour away from my home and sadly this doesn’t surprise me in the least. I would like to know the criteria used to distinguish a drug addict/dealer from a chronic pain patient. If someone is desperate enough, pushed beyond reason due to untreated intractable pain, I believe the lines could quickly blur at no fault of the patient, if they were abandoned by the medical system.
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Perhaps they should brand the “Scarlet Letter” into our foreheads with a big “A” for addict. This way schoolkids will know who to throw eggs at.
Our rulers have always understood the value of a good public shaming in dehumanizing the victims of their policies. We’re a stock and pillory kind of nation and have been since the Puritans landed here.
Not to be outdone in heartless cruelty by some hicks in Arkansas, the stormtroopers of “liberal” NYC have offered up this worthy effort:
https://news.vice.com/article/new-york-cops-are-now-shaming-homeless-people-on-social-media
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I am seeing meanness as a new sport. People inflicting damage gratuitously and moving on when they are bored. The adversarial approach is alive and well, unfortunately.
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