Understanding growing drug crisis in America

If you browse articles on this blog, going back to 2008, you'll see that my focus has been on urban poverty and its causes, and on volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs as part of the solutions.

Today my Twitter feed included this post.

This is a brutal series of charts showing the rapid growth of America's drug problem. Story isn't bad, either.https://t.co/bkuPzNxZoI pic.twitter.com/bWCKnTWqTa

— Matthew Rose (@MtthwRose) September 28, 2016

The maps in this post are from a Wall Street Journal article (see link in Tweet) which shows the growth of the drug crisis in America since 1990.

In articles on this blog and the Tutor/Mentor blog I have pointed to this concept map, showing four actions that need to be taking place to help people solve complex problems that they are concerned with.  You can find this map here, and it's described in this presentation.

While my web library has many articles about poverty, and showing how to use GIS maps, it does not focus on the drug crisis, solution providers, and places where people are interacting and trying to figure out ways to reduce this plague.

This concept map shows the research sub sections in the Tutor/Mentor web library. Why are tutor/mentor programs needed? Where are they most needed?

If someone has a good web library focused on the drug crisis, with links to other resources beyond their own, share a link with me in the comment section and I'll add another node to this map, pointing to your site(s).

I'm sure that as we look at the maps, we'll see that some of the places I've been focusing on will be the same places where drugs are a problem.  However, we'll also see many places in smaller cities and towns where this is a huge problem.

This graphic shows a process that we need to be going through, in places all over the country. I describe it in this blog article and this presentation.  

As more communities and organizations begin to organize this process, we can connect with each other in online communities, enabling a sharing of ideas, identification of common problems, and innovation of solutions to solve these problems.

Perhaps that common bond will bring more of us together in efforts that find solutions.

NOTE: view the comments sections for new articles on this topic that have been discovered since this original post was written.

Jan 2017 update: This interactive map shows locations where people died of drug overdoses, and tells stories of who those people were.

Feb 27, 2017 update: The Poynter Institute is offering a free one-day workshop in New York on March 3, 2017 (and in other cities after that) to help journalists cover the unfolding story of the Opiod Crisis. Visit the web site for more information and updates.

Dec 3, 2017 update - This ESRI map shows mortality rates for every county in the USA. This article talks about the data in the map.