The Communal Impacts of Drug Criminalization in Maryland

3. Decriminalization does not recognize the values that ground communities’ responses to heal and
be architects of their own solutions.
1. Drug decriminalization will not change the larger conditions faced by communities
targeted by the War on Drugs.
Interviewees routinely emphasized the need for a critical perspective that acknowledges the social impacts
of addiction stemming from underlying conditions in Baltimore. Contemporary discourse of decrim
traditionally argues that addiction should be treated as a public health problem. A public health approach
may be positive, as it seeks to address the material suffering caused by hyper-incarceration and addiction
(24,78). However, it does not challenge the underlying assumptions behind these systems of inequity and
overlooks the productive capabilities of individuals who use and sell drugs as a means of survival and
economic empowerment (6). Interviewees consistently pointed out that the minor revisions made to the
criminal legal system fail to address the true nature of the problem.
One interviewee, a youth leader, expressed concern that proposed marijuana legalization would
exacerbate structural conditions generated by the War on Drugs.
“If you are under the age of 18, and get caught with it, it’s still a crime. And the problem is what
we know is in poor communities, like Black people's communities traditionally, there's a huge
and urgent need for additional streams of income. And there's a pretty well-documented history
of kids taking up that type of ownership over contributions to the household space. Again, if you
are a kid with no formal training, no legitimate connections to larger money or politics or
anything else, you have what’s around you and available and so, traditionally, selling a little bit
of weed is most people's introduction into being able to make money… there could be potentially
a bunch of kids, who while this product is legal both medically and recreationally, because they
are trying to provide for their families in the same way that these White cannabis companies
are, will continue to be arrested, and continue to be engaged in the juvenile justice system.”
Not only did interviewees express concern about the worsening of conditions in a post-decriminalized
Baltimore, but were clear that a communal and comprehensive response was sorely needed:
“Let's not forget about the big business of the drug trade, right? It provides opportunities for
primarily young Black men who are not gonna be a part of the so-called primary labor market.
It gives them an opportunity to make money right, but it also obviously places them at risk to be
incarcerated and murdered. So, this is kind of a grand scheme. Like autopilot since slavery, to
continue as a society to racially control certain groups, and to essentially keep them subjugated
and oppressed. Because ultimately...people don't want to give up their power and privilege.”
(Jay)
“The opportunities that vulnerable people have in the streets to make money is a way to also
keep them cool and calm. But you take that opportunity to make money in the streets then
people are going to become more desperate and if you don't have the services and the
opportunities there, to rebuild and help the people, they will become more desperate, and they
are not going to suffer peacefully. They’re going to turn that anger inward and outward, and I
would say there would be more crime on the street. Now I’m not justifying the sale of drugs in
any kind of way... Taking the opportunity away from the streets, what money can you get? A
group can become desperate. We need to think about this collectively.” (Jay)
Minor amendments proposed by the current decriminalization effort, such as re-conceptualizing levels of
thresholds of drug possession, may not address the issue in the eyes of communities that have
experienced the devastating effects of criminalization of drug possession. Interviewees expressed
concerns that current decrim proposals do not resonate with the communities faced with high levels of
drugs on the street. In the absence of politically tangible solutions for community stabilization, some
community members may find it easier to reconcile with the criminal system of drug courts out of fear of
drug-related violence. So, interviewees that raised such concerns warned about the fear of repackaging
criminal reforms into other forms of social oppression. For example, the interviewee below shared
apprehension of how the current approach will be received if they do not address structural conditions of
drugs, crime, and policing:
36 of 55