Racial Justice Requires Ending the War on Drugs

Historically, laws and policies to criminalize drug use or possession were rooted in explicit racism, and they continue to wreak havoc on certain racialized communities. We are a group of bioethicists, drug experts, legal scholars, criminal justice researchers, sociologists, psychologists, and other...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of bioethics 2021-04, Vol.21 (4), p.4-19
Main Authors: Earp, Brian D., Lewis, Jonathan, Hart, Carl L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ethicists
health policy
Humans
Pharmaceutical Preparations
race and culture/ethnicity
Racism
regulatory issues
Substance-Related Disorders
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Summary:Historically, laws and policies to criminalize drug use or possession were rooted in explicit racism, and they continue to wreak havoc on certain racialized communities. We are a group of bioethicists, drug experts, legal scholars, criminal justice researchers, sociologists, psychologists, and other allied professionals who have come together in support of a policy proposal that is evidence-based and ethically recommended. We call for the immediate decriminalization of all so-called recreational drugs and, ultimately, for their timely and appropriate legal regulation. We also call for criminal convictions for nonviolent offenses pertaining to the use or possession of small quantities of such drugs to be expunged, and for those currently serving time for these offenses to be released. In effect, we call for an end to the "war on drugs."
ISSN:1526-5161
1536-0075
DOI:10.1080/15265161.2020.1861364