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Drug Decriminalization in Maryland Through an African Centered Research Paradigm- Analysis and Recommendations

This document offers guidance for theorizing questions related to a proposed research project purposed to advance drug decriminalization in Maryland.

This document offers guidance for theorizing questions related to a proposed research project purposed to advance drug decriminalization in Maryland.

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see the causal relationship between self-scrut<strong>in</strong>y <strong>an</strong>d a will<strong>in</strong>gness to promote social<br />

ch<strong>an</strong>ge, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the profound social ch<strong>an</strong>ges that <strong>an</strong>tiracist policies require. Even today,<br />

social conservatives (<strong>an</strong>d others) reta<strong>in</strong> the option of preserv<strong>in</strong>g the traditional racial<br />

hierarchy <strong>an</strong>d its racist folklore <strong>in</strong>side their heads, while conform<strong>in</strong>g to <strong>an</strong>tiracist public<br />

norms that enforce public civility <strong>an</strong>d a degree of racial <strong>in</strong>tegration with<strong>in</strong> “discipl<strong>in</strong>ed”<br />

workplaces such as hospitals <strong>an</strong>d cl<strong>in</strong>ics. There c<strong>an</strong> be no doubt that m<strong>an</strong>y doctors choose<br />

this option, thereby discipl<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g their social conduct but not their racial imag<strong>in</strong>ations.<br />

The research I have done for this book confirms that physici<strong>an</strong>s share the racial attitudes<br />

of their fellow citizens. Indeed, their <strong>in</strong>timate <strong>in</strong>volvement with medically afflicted black<br />

bodies <strong>an</strong>d m<strong>in</strong>ds may even create <strong>an</strong>d <strong>in</strong>tensify feel<strong>in</strong>gs about the racial differences they<br />

perceive. There is, then, no evident reason to assume that doctors feel greater sympathy<br />

toward or possess a greater underst<strong>an</strong>d<strong>in</strong>g of Afric<strong>an</strong> Americ<strong>an</strong>s that most whites do. On<br />

the contrary, it is probable that m<strong>an</strong>y doctors, like police officers, are exposed to more<br />

th<strong>an</strong> their fair share of extreme <strong>an</strong>d unattractive behaviors of the troubled <strong>an</strong>d the <strong>in</strong>digent,<br />

a disproportionate number of whom may be black. These experiences do not produce racial<br />

goodwill. Consequently, as one Afric<strong>an</strong> Americ<strong>an</strong> physici<strong>an</strong> commented <strong>in</strong> 1990: “The<br />

problem is not that medical providers are ethically deficient compared with the public, it<br />

is that we are no longer <strong>an</strong>y better. Our r<strong>an</strong>ks <strong>in</strong>clude racists <strong>an</strong>d virtually every other<br />

variety of impaired citizenry. (Hoberm<strong>an</strong>, 2012).<br />

This has profound implications for the theory of ch<strong>an</strong>ge laid outl<strong>in</strong>ed by Domoslawski. The idea<br />

that doctors <strong>an</strong>d law enforcement officers, who are both structurally <strong>in</strong>oculated from accountability<br />

specifically to Black populations <strong>an</strong>d given legally s<strong>an</strong>ctioned authority over the lives of<br />

oppressed, c<strong>an</strong> engage as a political “equals” with racialized drug users, specially Black drug users,<br />

is ignor<strong>an</strong>t of not only political economy which creates a massive power imbal<strong>an</strong>ce with<strong>in</strong> this<br />

“coalition”, but the “libid<strong>in</strong>al” economy undergird<strong>in</strong>g vision of racialized drug users as threats to<br />

white society <strong>an</strong>d the authority of the very cops <strong>an</strong>d doctors Domoslawski <strong>an</strong>d those like him are<br />

ask<strong>in</strong>g drug users to work with.<br />

It could be argued, <strong>in</strong> Domosławski’s defense, that he is specifically a Polish journalist<br />

writ<strong>in</strong>g about his observations around drug decrim<strong>in</strong>alization <strong>in</strong> Portugal, which does not have the<br />

same racialized history around polic<strong>in</strong>g that the United States has. Rather th<strong>an</strong> challeng<strong>in</strong>g this<br />

critique of eurocentric research paradigms, this argument precisely proves why it is so d<strong>an</strong>gerous.<br />

In the physical sciences, research f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs c<strong>an</strong> be tr<strong>an</strong>slated from one country or l<strong>an</strong>guage to<br />

<strong>an</strong>other with confidence that the physical properties underly<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>in</strong>teractions will not ch<strong>an</strong>ge<br />

from country to country. The notion that <strong>an</strong>yth<strong>in</strong>g <strong>an</strong>alogous c<strong>an</strong> be done with social science<br />

should be on face ridiculous, given the specific contextual histories of social formations (<strong>an</strong>d<br />

specifically, racialized violence) <strong>an</strong>d how it differs from nation to nation. Yet there are attempts to<br />

treat the social science question of addiction as if biological processes <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> chemical<br />

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