Race, Drugs and Harm Reduction

• In Event: Advancing Equal Justice: Issues, Strategies & Obstacles

Abstract

Traditionally, tiny epidemics in opioid (Heroin) use among blacks have been met with a war on drugs that emphasizes locking up more minority users and sellers as one way of reducing the drug supply. Unfortunately, these policies have failed to stem the flow of drugs. However, they have succeeded in maximizing the harms associated with opioid addiction for blacks, who often find that efforts to recover from their addictions are hampered by imprisonment and re-entry into a hostile society. By contrast, much larger opioid epidemics (Morphine, OxyContin, Vicodin, etc.)among whites have been met with indifference or a harm reduction approach that focuses on saving addicts from fatal overdoses and expanding treatment rather than punishment. This paper explores racial disparities in how opioid epidemics are treated by comparing the harm maximizing policies enacted in the face of black opioid epidemics to the harm reduction strategies developed in response to the current largely white opioid epidemic.

Author

• Jeanette Covington, Rutgers University