The Communal Impacts of Drug Criminalization in Maryland

Indeed, this quote comes from a former addict who used Chi-gong as a form of addiction
prevention, only to find the institution he worked with impacted by a foundation shift in focus
from addiction treatment to “trauma.” “Trauma informed” care is presented by some as a “best
practice” for addressing social determinants of health care, so it being identified as trading off
with grassroots community attempts to address the harms of drug criminalization. This
exemplifies the need to center definitions of “anti-racism” produced by the communities most
impacted by White Supremacy/anti-Blackness. Moreover, the collapse of community
institutions created after a flood of interest and donations after the Baltimore Uprising of 2015
was noted as demonstrating the lack of care powerful institutions had for the humanity of
Black people, creating a further sense of distrust of philanthropic institutions.
Our research shows it is unlikely, without the explicit and intentional
commitment of community control, even the most well-intentioned philanthropic
investments will be embraced in communities most actually impacted by drug
criminalization.
Crime and Social Control Fears Constrain
Black Community Support for Drug
Decriminalization
“I support the decriminalization of certain drugs to
use the revenue to uplift vulnerable people. You got to
think, will the money be used like that? …if … it's not
being used to provide job opportunities, etc., then you
will see more desperation in the streets, and I think
that could increase crime. In many ways, this is sad.
However, this is a consequence of racial control…We
need to think about this collectively.” (J)
Many interviewees also conflated decriminalization of
opioids and other drugs with decriminalization of
cannabis, viewing both through their experience as
people who live in communities impacted by the streetlevel
drug trade. Our analysis shows the relationship
between public perception of cannabis
decriminalization and public perception of opioid
decriminalization, specifically in the Black community,
may be under-theorized in drug decriminalization
spaces. Some in pro decriminalization advocates in
drug policy spaces have argued that cannabis
legalization is a test case for opioid decriminalization.
From the perspective of some in the drug policy
community, cannabis was decriminalization
legalization with minimum social ramification, proving
we can decriminalize other substances as well. Our
findings show this may not be a view shared by some
on the ground in communities most impacted by the
War on Drugs.
Many interviewees experienced cannabis
decriminalization as part of a gateway to cannabis
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