Opioid Crisis and Trap Music

Is a popular sub-set of hip hop music called "trap" guilty of contributing to the United States opioid epidemic? That's the question many politicians, music activists, youth groups, and students are asking. For the last 10 years, the U.S. law enforcement and drug treatment facilities have been battling with a powerful rise of opioid use, abuse, and addiction. "Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia." - Wikipedia

These powerful pain relievers are legally acquired from a doctor with a prescription, but overly prescribing and purchase through the "black market" has made these highly addictive drugs easy to access. Lately, many doctors have been receiving public scrutiny and legal investigations into their prescribing practices and history. According to a recent CNN article,

"Doctors are increasingly being held accountable — some even facing murder charges — when their patients overdose on opioid painkillers they prescribed. A Texas doctor faces charges of illegally distributing these drugs in connection with at least seven deaths, according to an indictment that was unsealed this month."

At a glance this epidemic appears to be an issue between law enforcement and doctors. What role does music have in this? Hip hop has a long history of product and lifestyle advertisement. Whether is RUN DMC providing free promo for Adidas in the 80s, or Lil Pump chanting "Gucci gang" a bazillion times in his song "Gucci gang" giving the brand much appreciated advertisement. Cars, vacation locations, expensive watches, designer clothing, pricey alcohol, and many other products should be thanking hip hop for all the free publicity. Opioids are the latest to the list to get some free promotion. Within the last 12 years hip how's sub genre called "trap music" has seemingly gone out its way to promote the use of opioids. Songs can be frequently heard on the radio about Percocet, Codeine, Vicodin, Aderall (non-opioid) and OxyContin. "Lean," a drink mixture of soda, jolly ranchers, and opioids (made popular in Texas) is a staple in this sub-genre. You don't have to listen long before you hear the use of and/reference to the Schedule Two narcotic.

What's trap music and the artist's responsibility to help fight this global crisis? That's an argument and conversation for another time, but it typically ends with a mentioning of the 1st Amendment right of free-speech and parental responsibility for filtering music from minors.

Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerburg recently took a tour of the United States and commented on how alarming the opioid problem is, "The biggest surprise by far is the extent of opioid issues, it's really saddening to see," Zuckerberg said during a live Facebook broadcast from the University of Kansas.

Who is to blame? Is life imitating art, or art imitating life? Or is this merely a result of what some call "the doping of humanity"? There are groups that feel these drugs don't make their way to the public, and in low-income communities by chance. They believe that coffee, containing caffeine which is drug classified as a stimulant and is proven to stimulant thinking and brain activity can be found in more affluent communities, while opioids and certain strains of marijuana that are depressants which slow down the central nervous system are found in communities of lower socio-economic status is not accidental. Either way there is a major global issue with the misuse of prescription medication, and many feel that the influential media and the art world has an obligation to be thoughtful and empathetic to those battling with addiction, or affected by it in any way. "Stand for something" is the message I often hear from many hip hop artists that have dedicated their careers to social awareness. It's a message that they echo to the media, radio stations, blogs, and other artists that they feel are capitalizing and exploiting negative conditions for popularity and gain. In our entertainment driven social climate, have entertainers abandoned their connection to humanity or are many artists unaware that according to statnews.com opioids will be responsible for 500,000 American deaths within one year.

Please take some time to watch Julia Picetti's Ted Talk discussion where she details how important this conversation is, and how committed many are to battling the crisis.