Defining the problem

It is easy to misdefine any problem.

"Over 100 people die each day in United States car accidents. The problem is that the speed limits are too high." No, the problem is that we lost 100 of our community members today.

"Teenagers are more suicidal than they used to be, with almost a tenth of them having attempted suicide. The problem is that social media is rotting their brains." No, the problem is that our teenagers are hurting and sometimes dying.

"I can't afford to keep my heat on and I am cold this winter. The problem is that I am not wearing a sweater." No, the problem is that you are cold.

In the first example, the speaker confuses a potential mediator of the problem (a high speed limit) with the issue at hand (that people are dying). Most assuredly, speed limits do impact death rates, but by labeling the mediator as the problem, it limits the potential solutions (seatbelts, decreasing the number of those driving under the influence, technology to keep drivers awake, etc.). In the second example, the speaker labels both a potential mediator as a problem and then "muddies" the mediator with an non-falsifiable claim (ie the rotting of teenager brains). There are many studies supporting the claim that increased use of social media increases suicidality of teenagers, but their choice of words is nonspecific and may confuse the listener. In the third bullet point, the speaker constructs a solution (donning a sweater), and defines the problem as not having yet performed said solution, limiting their vision of other possible solutions (applying for financial assistance, passing legislation limiting the price of heating for those of low income, wearing a hat, etc.).

In all three cases, both the problems and solutions are political. Our values guide us to see them as political. We care about our family member who is cold or the coworker who passed away in a car accident. More to the point, our value of community is what makes us care about them. Once we extend our concern to those outside of ourselves, we find that anything that affects the lives of others, by definition, is political. We may choose to lend our sweater or not, but the act of lending a sweater is no more or less political than passing legislation to assist those of lower resources to afford heat.

For people who use drugs, the problem at hand has been mis-defined over and over. The biggest problem with drugs is not that drugs are bad, or that people who use are immoral. The problem with drugs is that people are dying from overdose. Any other problem-definition distracts from the scale of this problem: every time someone dies from overdose, we lose a friend, a sister, a father, and this has happened a million times in the US alone since the modern epidemic began. Of course, this doesn't begin to count the non-mortal suffering that occurs in many who use that live and continue to use despite wanting to stop.

To define the problem in this way is political: our culture continues to define those who use drugs as parasites on society, and we must define them as how we see them: fellow people often struggling.