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The drug war and criminalization are the unmeasured confounding variables that impact ALL other variables and outcomes in drug and drug policy research.
We don't even know the full extent of how they impact everything we THINK we know about drugs.
FULL STOP.
(1/x)
The drug war and criminalization are the unmeasured confounding variables that impact ALL other variables and outcomes in drug and drug policy research.
We don't even know the full extent of how they impact everything we THINK we know about drugs.
FULL STOP.
(1/x)
Some examples:
➡️Any study about the supposed effects of an illicit drug on emotional, mental, physical health and well-being of users.
As long as the participants used the unmonitored and unregulated illicit supply, you never really know what you're measuring. (2/x)
➡️Any study about the supposed effects of an illicit drug on emotional, mental, physical health and well-being of users.
As long as the participants used the unmonitored and unregulated illicit supply, you never really know what you're measuring. (2/x)
➡️Any study abt the association btwn illicit drug use & outcomes like risk behaviors, treatment engagement, 'recidivism,' housing, employment, etc.
If ppl fear arrest, incarceration, or having a criminal record bars you from accessing these services, we can't pin it on use (3/x)
If ppl fear arrest, incarceration, or having a criminal record bars you from accessing these services, we can't pin it on use (3/x)
➡️Any study abt the impact of health policies on health outcomes among people who use illicit drugs
Health-promoting policies can do a lot, but their impact on health outcomes among a group that is criminalized and subject to policing is often unmeasured (4/x)
Health-promoting policies can do a lot, but their impact on health outcomes among a group that is criminalized and subject to policing is often unmeasured (4/x)
➡️Any study that aims to identify racial or ethnic disparities in drug-related outcomes
These often fail to recognize that systemic racism in healthcare, the racist war on drugs, racist policing, deportation fears, etc can drive or create these disparities
These often fail to recognize that systemic racism in healthcare, the racist war on drugs, racist policing, deportation fears, etc can drive or create these disparities
➡️Any study on stigma towards or against people who use illicit drugs
Criminalization is the formalization and institutionalization of moralism. As long as drugs remain criminalized, you can't really measure or reduce stigma. Medicalizing it won't save us. (6/x)
Criminalization is the formalization and institutionalization of moralism. As long as drugs remain criminalized, you can't really measure or reduce stigma. Medicalizing it won't save us. (6/x)
I think you get my point. Of course, we can find various associations between these variables.
Yet we cannot confidently make a lot of claims without acknowledging that criminalization is the air we breathe.
It's invisible, it's everywhere, and we forget it's even there. FIN
Yet we cannot confidently make a lot of claims without acknowledging that criminalization is the air we breathe.
It's invisible, it's everywhere, and we forget it's even there. FIN
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