Antiracist Addiction Treatment

The War on Drugs

When we think about the war on drugs we think about Nixon, Raegan, and Bush but it actually started long before that. It began with opiate and cocaine use that had widespread use by the 19th century. Americans used the liquid form and the Chinese community decided to smoke the drug. In an effort to be the hero and claim they were in it to protect white women from Chinese men, policies were implemented to ban smoking of Opium. Little kids were given liquid drops of cocaine in their toothache remedies, but if you were not a little white kid you were demonized for being a fiend of the product. Victimized white women were used as propaganda in news articles and photos, claiming they needed to be saved from the black and brown people using cocaine. Then Reefer Madness came, and stigma was created around the use of marijuana, using its Spanish name to link the stigma to the Mexican community. Then came Harry Anslinger, the true pioneer of “The War On Drugs.” He created this movement after the momentum of previous narcotics stigmas being used to disrupt marginalized and oppressed communities. So this War has not been successful in getting drugs off our streets and keeping people safe, but it has been successful with its original goal. To wreak havoc on the well being and incarceration rates of black and brown communities. 

Data on Use and Mass Incarceration 

Criminalization of drug possession is a major driver of mass incarceration in the United States. Each year U.S. law enforcement makes more than 1.5 million drug arrests, more arrests than for all violent crimes combined. The overwhelming majority, more than 80%, are for possession only and involve no violent offense. As a society, we have decided to punish those who use illicit drugs, and make them suffer. The stigma this creates negatively affects people's desire and felt safety around seeking help during addiction. This requires a public health approach and not a criminal justice approach. Let’s look at arrest stats in comparison to those who are using substances:

Population / Percent of US Population / Percent of Drug Arrests

White 60.1%   49%

Latino/a  18.5% 22%

Black  13.4% 34%

Asian  5.9%  <1%

The above statistics are the main reasons people do not reach out for help when they are in those early stages of drug abuse struggles. This is due to the fear that they will be forced into treatment and have to pass drug tests when they don’t truly want to quit, but need to seek support in harm reduction. Also the fear of incarceration, losing their job, housing, children, etc. 

What Can We Do? 

1. Allow those who have gotten nonviolent drug possession charges to expunge the felony off of their record. 

2. Decriminalize possession of drugs if they are at a personal use quantity. 3. Do not require people to take part in drug treatment if they don’t have a drug abuse issue. 90% of people who are forced into treatment involuntarily do not actually have a drug abuse struggle. 

4. Allow people who are found with drugs to go through a health screener to see if they need to take part in treatment. 

5. Accept as a profession that people should have autonomy over their bodies, and if they are functional and safe they get to choose if they want to have a personal use amount on them at their discretion.