J.D. Roberts, a white doctor from North Carolina and the author of a book on medicine and Black communities, argues that: "Black bodies lacked 'the same delicate nervous organization' as whites, and thus 'd[id] not demand the form of stimulant conveyed in opium' as did whites. Black people also had a 'general ignorance' of medical care, an assertion implying that Black Americans lacked the knowledge to care for their health needs by self-medicating with opiates, as whites often did" (Jones, 2021).