U.S. federal drug policy has long emphasized criminalization and incarceration, and many negative policy outcomes have disproportionately impacted communities of color and Blacks in particular. The framework of harm reduction informs a range of alternative policy strategies from decriminalization to legalization, treating drugs more as a public health than a criminal justice issue. While Black communities are seen as opposing harm reduction with illicit drugs, Black leadership has recently supported ending the war on drugs. Using in-depth interviews with 21 substance abuse service providers in a Northeastern U.S. urban hub, this study explores views toward the potential impact of, and support for, harm reduction illicit drug policies in Black U.S. communities. Cognizant of the racially skewed impact of drug policies, respondents endorsed policy changes but were generally mixed on harm reduction, opposing liberalization of “hard” drugs, yet supporting it for marijuana given its link to race-based policing. Respondents indicate many Black communities need more than drug policy change, at best seeing harm reduction as only part of larger scale reinvestment. Findings inform considerations of reforming drug policy strategies and priorities for these communities, given views toward illicit drugs and racially skewed outcomes of current drug policy.
AlexanderM. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York, NY: New Press.
2.
AndersonW. (1991). The New York Needle Trial: The politics of public health in the age of AIDS. American Journal of Public Health, 81, 1506–17.
3.
BallA.L. (2007). HIV, injecting drug use, and harm reduction: A public health response. Addiction, 102, 684–690.
4.
BlackA. D. (2007). “The war on people”: Reframing “The war on drugs” by addressing racism within American drug policy through restorative justice and community collaboration. University of Louisville Law Review, 46, 177–198.
5.
BlockW. E.ObiohaV. (2012). War on Black Men: Arguments for the legalization of drugs. Criminal Justice Ethics, 31, 106–120.
6.
BoboL. D.ThompsonV. (2006). Unfair by design: The war on drugs, race, and the legitimacy of the criminal justice system. Social Research, 73, 445–472.
7.
ChinG. J. (2002). Race, the war on drugs, and the collateral consequences of criminal conviction. Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, 6, 253–278.
8.
ColemanH.UnrauY. A. (2005). Analyzing qualitative data. In GrinnellR. M.UnrauY. A. (Eds.), Social work research and evaluation: Quantitative and qualitative approaches (7th ed., pp. 404–420). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
9.
DaltonH. (1989). AIDS in Blackface. Daedalus188, 205–227.
FellnerJ. (2009). Race, drugs, and law enforcement in the United States. Stanford Policy Law Review, 20, 257–291.
12.
GleghornA.RosenbaumM.GarciaB. (2001). Bridging the gap in San Francisco: The process of integrating harm reduction and traditional substance abuse services. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 33, 1–7.
13.
HamiltonM. (1999). Researching harm reduction care and contradictions. Substance Use & Misuse, 34, 119–134.
14.
HellerD.PaoneD. (2011). Access to sterile syringes for injecting drug users in New York City: Politics and perception (1984--2010). Substance Use & Misuse, 46, 140–149.
15.
KingN. (1998). Template analysis. In SymanC.CassellC. (Eds.), Qualitative methods and analysis in organizational research (pp. 118–134). London, England: Sage.
16.
LurigioA. J.LooseP. (2000). The disproportionate incarceration of African Americans for drug offenses: The national and Illinois perspective. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 6, 223–247.
17.
LusaneC.DesmondD. (1991). Pipe dream blues: Racism and the war on drugs. Boston, MA: South End Press.
18.
MarlattG.TapertS. (1993). Harm reduction: Reducing the risks of addictive behaviors. In BaerJ.MarlattG.McMahonR. (Eds.), Addictive behaviors across the lifespan: Prevention, treatment, and policy issues (pp. 243–273). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
19.
MauerM. (2004). Race, class, and the development of criminal justice policy. Review of Policy Research, 21, 79–92.
20.
McCaslinM. L.ScottK. W. (2003). The five question model for framing a qualitative research study. The Qualitative Report, 8, 447–461.
21.
MearesT. L. (1997). Charting race and class differences in attitudes toward drug legalization and law enforcement: Lessons for Federal criminal law. Buffalo Criminal Law Review, 1, 137–174.
22.
MerriamS. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
NunnK. B. (2002). Race, crime and the pool of surplus criminality: Or why the “war on drugs” was a “war on Blacks”. Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, 6, 381–445.
26.
QuimbyE.FriedmanS. R. (1989). Dynamics of Black mobilization against AIDS in New York City. Social Problems, 36, 403–415.
27.
RileyD.O’HareP. (2000). Harm reduction: History, definition, and practice. In InciardiJ.HarrisonL. (Eds.), Harm reduction: National and international perspectives (pp. 1–26). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
28.
SchneiderC. L. (1998). Racism, drug policy, and AIDS. Political Science Quarterly, 113, 427–446.
29.
SmallD. (2001). The war on drugs is a war on racial justice. Social Research, 68, 896–903.
30.
StirlingE. E. (2004). Drug policy: A challenge of values. Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work, 23, 51–81.
31.
TammiT. (2004). The harm reduction school of thought: Three fractions. Contemporary Drug Problems, 31, 381–399.
32.
ThomasS. B.QuinnS. C. (1993). The burdens of race and history on Black Americans' attitudes toward needle exchange policy to prevent HIV disease. Journal of Public Health Policy, 14, 320–348.
33.
TonryM. H. (1995). Malign neglect--race, crime, and punishment in America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
34.
TonryM. H. (2011). Punishing race: A Continuing American Dilemma. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
35.
VanderWaalC. J.WashingtonF. L.DrummR. D.TerryY. M.McBrideD. C.Finley- GordonR. D. (2001). African-American injection drug users: Tensions and barriers in HIV/AIDS prevention. Substance Use & Misuse, 36, 735–755.
36.
VieraA. J.GarrettJ. M. (2005). Understanding interobserver agreement: The kappa statistic. Family Medicine, 37, 360–363.
37.
WattersJ. K. (1996). American and syringe exchange: Roots of resistance. In RhodesT.HartnollR. (Eds.), AIDS, drugs, and prevention: Perspectives on individual and community action (pp. 22–41). London, England: Routledge.
38.
WoodsI. P. (1998). Bringing harm reduction to the Black community. In MarlattG. A. (Ed.), Harm reduction: Pragmatic strategies for managing high-risk behaviors (pp. 301–326). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
