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Methadone and Black Activism

The Troubled History of New York’s Methadone Clinics

Yale University’s Medical School student, Zoe Adams, has written a fascinating article on the history of methadone in New York City for Urban Omnibus, a publication of the Architectural League of New York.

The cover of the December 27, 1970 issue of Black News.

Adams writes:

“Across New York City, a certain kind of medicine is administered not in a regular pharmacy or a doctor’s office, but in its own kind of space altogether. Most often, these are brick-and-mortar locations, clustered in lower-income communities of color… the geographic footprint and spatial practices of methadone maintenance treatment remain hyper-concentrated and sequestered. Communities such as Harlem are overburdened with facilities providing care for a large proportion of the city’s estimated 28,500 people in recovery; yet there are no methadone clinics to be found in the wealthier, whiter neighborhoods”

To read Zoe Adam’s full article, click here.

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