This chapter provides a critical analysis of the disproportionate impacts of UK drug policy on marginalised communities, particularly Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) groups and individuals living in socio-economically deprived areas. Despite the rhetorical framing of drug laws as neutral mechanisms of public health and safety, evidence shows that their implementation entrenches structural inequalities. Through an interdisciplinary synthesis of academic research, government reviews, and policy critiques, the chapter examines how race, class, and geography intersect to shape differential experiences of policing, prosecution, and punishment. Focusing on stop and search practices, sentencing disparities, and access to treatment, the chapter demonstrates how drug enforcement disproportionately targets visible, street-level use in racialised and impoverished communities. Conversely, middle-class functional users—who consume similar substances in private, socially sanctioned settings—are rarely subject to criminal sanctions. This selective enforcement not only perpetuates injustice but also undermines public health objectives by criminalising the very communities most in need of support. The chapter also explores how corporate and institutional actors, particularly within the pharmaceutical industry, escape the scrutiny applied to individual users, despite their role in large-scale drug-related harms. Drawing on case studies including the opioid crisis, it argues that the political economy of drug policy protects power and punishes poverty. Moreover, it highlights the role of media narratives in shaping public perception—framing affluent drug users as experimental or harmless, while depicting poorer, racialised users as dangerous or deviant. Importantly, the chapter situates these issues within broader calls for reform. It considers alternative models of harm reduction and decriminalisation, drawing on examples from Scotland, Portugal, and global best practice. The chapter concludes by arguing that meaningful reform must go beyond piecemeal decriminalisation and address the structural determinants of drug misuse—such as housing, health care, education, and employment—through a health-centred and socially just policy framework. Ultimately, this chapter exposes the UK’s drug enforcement regime as a system of selective criminalisation, not a rational tool for managing harm. It calls for a paradigm shift in both policy and institutional culture: one that acknowledges the deep inequities in current practice and seeks to redress them through evidence, equity, and compassion.

The War on Some Drugs, Who Really Pays the Price?

章节
发表日期：

2025年

查看全文

Elizabeth Peatfield

摘要

This chapter provides a critical analysis of the disproportionate impacts of UK drug policy on marginalised communities, particularly Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) groups and individuals living in socio-economically deprived areas. Despite the rhetorical framing of drug laws as neutral mechanisms of public health and safety, evidence shows that their implementation entrenches structural inequalities. Through an interdisciplinary synthesis of academic research, government reviews, and policy critiques, the chapter examines how race, class, and geography intersect to shape differential experiences of policing, prosecution, and punishment. Focusing on stop and search practices, sentencing disparities, and access to treatment, the chapter demonstrates how drug enforcement disproportionately targets visible, street-level use in racialised and impoverished communities. Conversely, middle-class functional users—who consume similar substances in private, socially sanctioned settings—are rarely subject to criminal sanctions. This selective enforcement not only perpetuates injustice but also undermines public health objectives by criminalising the very communities most in need of support. The chapter also explores how corporate and institutional actors, particularly within the pharmaceutical industry, escape the scrutiny applied to individual users, despite their role in large-scale drug-related harms. Drawing on case studies including the opioid crisis, it argues that the political economy of drug policy protects power and punishes poverty. Moreover, it highlights the role of media narratives in shaping public perception—framing affluent drug users as experimental or harmless, while depicting poorer, racialised users as dangerous or deviant. Importantly, the chapter situates these issues within broader calls for reform. It considers alternative models of harm reduction and decriminalisation, drawing on examples from Scotland, Portugal, and global best practice. The chapter concludes by arguing that meaningful reform must go beyond piecemeal decriminalisation and address the structural determinants of drug misuse—such as housing, health care, education, and employment—through a health-centred and socially just policy framework. Ultimately, this chapter exposes the UK’s drug enforcement regime as a system of selective criminalisation, not a rational tool for managing harm. It calls for a paradigm shift in both policy and institutional culture: one that acknowledges the deep inequities in current practice and seeks to redress them through evidence, equity, and compassion.