Over the past year it seems that the word “Cr*ckhead” has re-entered common vernacular.

I have heard this word used amongst even my friends in the most “liberal” of circles and I haven’t been able to find an appropriate way to call it out.

The thing is words even ones that can be defined as “throwaway phrases” have power.

Because in the multiple instances I’ve heard the term “cr*ckhead” I have heard it used in a self deprecating manner to simple mistakes.
E.g, “Oh my god I’m such a cr*ckhead”/“Am I on crack”

Because it is said in jest it reinforces the racist and often classist nature of the term.

And in turn it leads to accounts such as this:This account based here in liberal” Vancouver has 5000 followers, it is dedicated to mocking and dehumanizing drug users.

So some basic history about the criminalization of Cocaine courtesy of The Atlantic.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/401015/

In simpler terms, the Reagan administration criminalized the use of crack cocaine/ powder cocaine at a ratio of 100:1 with the intention of fuelling the prison industrial complex with the intention of enslaving Inner-city (Black) people.

This didn’t just extend to cocaine it also extended to other drugs such as Heroin. John Ehrlichman who was an advisor to President Nixon said this on the War On Drugs.

The main idea is very clear, the demonization of drug use is simply a political manoeuvre one that has lasted decades and allowed even the most empathetic of use to other drug users.

I too have been suceptible to this and so I also have to implicate myself in this rhetoric.

But bringing it back to Vancouver.

I’m not going to tell you why filming people without their consent to mock them on a public platform is disgusting behaviour.

Or why dehumanizing people is objectively wrong.

What I will say however is while 191 people have died of COVID-19 over the past four months.

June has been the worst month for overdose deaths in B.C. history.

This is primarily due to access to key harm reduction services as well as access to safer supplies.

On June 26th paramedics responded to 131 overdoses.

And even more importantly this has been affecting Indigenous communities with a 93 percent spike in deaths. https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5652311

So to conclude, no it is not just a joke or just a word.
You are participating in a violent harm which effects the BIPOC people in your communities.

In a survey carried out in 2012, it was estimated that 21.6% of Canada's population met the criteria for a substance use disorder

That is over a fifth of this countries population.

Sit with that.

Thank you @mouseinsneakers for flagging this despicable account, if you have time today please report this account to Instagram so it can be taken down.