What is Substance Use About? Assumptions in New York's Drug Policies and the Perceptions of African Americans Who are Low-Income and Using Drugs

Abstract

The current article uses intersectionality and standpoint theories to examine the social impact of solely relying on Eurocentric worldviews when developing drug policies that affect low-income African American communities. It is argued that low-income African Americans share a unique cultural and historical background that must be taken into account in the development and implementation of policies and interventions that effect this population. Analysis of longitudinal qualitative data will compare the assumptions informing New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws with the worldviews of drug using and low-income African Americans in New York City, New York, while examining the impact of these policies in participants' lived experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• African Americans
• culturally congruent practice
• drug laws
• poverty
• substance use

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank the many contributions to this article made by the women who generously shared their stories, Dr. Bruce Johnson, Dr. Ellen Benoit, Dr. Laura Lein, and ethnographers Deborah Murray and Doris Randolph.

Notes

Table is adapted from information retrieved from Porter (2004).

GDP = grade drop out; SCO = some college; HSD = high school diploma; ACS = Administration for Children's Services; AL = alcohol; MJ = marijuana; CO = cocaine; CR = crack; H = heroin; D = deceased; RE = in recovery from addiction; VS = very sick; G = good; Unk = unknown; F = fair.

^a 1 = most harmful effects/most useful effects and 4 = least harmful effects/least useful effects.

Supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA09056 and R01 DA021827). The points of view in this article do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Government, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or the National Development and Research Institutes.