PUBLIC HEALTH
AND THE WAR ON DRUGS
The War on Drugs is an instructive example of how criminal responses to health concerns are not only ineffective, but harmful.
Drug prohibition has led to challenges in regulating consistency in drug supply leading to fatal overdoses, stigma towards people who use drugs -- particularly Black people who use drugs -- and challenges for accessing medical treatment for substance use disorders. This, in addition to the severe mental, physical, and emotional health consequences of being introduced into the carceral system, indicates that our current carceral models are actually causing more harm, rather than preventing health inequities/harms. Drug policy is not based on public health and evidence, but an instrument of oppressing communities of color, immigrant communities, and people impacted by poverty.
The following selected resources lay out how criminalization of drugs has been worse than ineffective -- it has increased health-related harms and exacerbated racial inequities. Criminalization of drug use is not at all based in scientific evidence and aims to erase the agency of people who use drugs. Updated 3.23.22.
Selected Resources
- Decriminalization of Personal Use and Possession of Small Quantities of Drugs, CA Bridge
- Making Drug Use a Crime Makes HIV Prevention, Treatment More Difficult, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- “I Was Not Sick and I Didn’t Need to Recover”: Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) as a Refuge from Criminalization, Substance Use and Misuse
- Decrim Poverty DC
- Mass Incarceration and Criminalization, Drug Policy Alliance
- Against Drug Prohibition, ACLU
- Developing a Penal Abolitionist Application to Drug Treatment Drawing from Insider Perspectives and Lived Experiences, Humanity and Society
- “Dead Addicts Don’t Recover”: ACT UP’s Needle Exchange and the Subjects of Queer Activist History, Duke University Press
Discussion Questions
- People use drugs (both legal and criminalized) for a variety of reasons: for pleasure, to cope with different types of pain, to survive harsh conditions, to bond with partners, for religious reasons, to change their mood, to socialize, and more. How can public health respond to the potential harms of different kinds of use by contextualizing why and how people use drugs?
- How can public health do this without collaborating with police?
- How can public health prioritize the experience and leadership of people who use drugs and people who are most targeted by the War on Drugs (Black individuals, unhoused individuals, previously criminalized individuals) to address the potential harms of drug use?
Who To Follow
- Dr. Carl Hart @drcarlhart
- Savannah O’Neill @savannahroneill
- Drug Policy Alliance @drugpolicyorg
- Kassandra Frederique @Kassandra_Fred
- Dr. Sheila Vakharia @MyHarmReduction
- International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD)
- Bmore Power @bmorepower
- Caty Simon @marginalutilite
- Students for Sensible Drug Policy
- Youth Rise
- National Harm Reduction Coalition
- Narcotica @Narcocast
- HRH413 @HRH413
- Urban Survivors Union @nc_usu
- Boston Users Union @BOSUsersUnion
For Further Learning
- Let’s Reject the Violent vs. Nonviolent Crime Dichotomy to End the War on Drugs
- Defining and Implementing a Public Health Response to Drug Use and Misuse, American Public Health Association
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
- Liquid Handcuffs Documentary
- #ReframeTheBlame: Take a Stand Against Drug-Induced Homicide Laws
- Committed to Safety for ALL Survivors: Guidance for Domestic Violence Programs on Supporting Survivors Who Use Substances
- HIV and the criminalisation of drug use among people who inject drugs: a systematic review
TAKE ACTION
1Harm reduction approaches to drug use choose not to condone or condemn drug use, but to support people who use drugs in living healthy, safe, and fulfilling lives. Harm reduction programs include syringe access, overdose prevention sites through safer consumption spaces, and community drop-in centers for people who use drugs. Get linked with a harm reduction program in your community and ask how you can support anti-carceral approaches to harm caused by the war on drugs.
2Support mail-based harm reduction solutions for people using drugs in rural areas.
3Join a drug decriminalization campaign in your state. In 2020, Oregon decriminalized personal use of all drugs, and Washington, DC decriminalized drug paraphernalia.
4Check out this resource on how to shift the way we talk about drugs and drug policy. How can this apply to the work you do in research or practice?
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TowardsAbolition.com is a learning and action guide developed for people
involved in the public health field including students, researchers, and practitioners.
Contact Us
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Last updated May 2021