Drug policy and racism in canada
As the summer of 2020 goes down in history, marked by the historic protests in defence of Black lives, the hashtags #BlackLivesMatter, #DefundThePolice, and #DefundToAbolish have become more than slogans; they have become visions for a radically transformed society.
For those of us involved in research, scholarship, or advocacy around the criminalization of drugs in Canada, the racial reckoning and expanding support for building abolitionist futures have made it clear: to end the racial harms endemic to policing in this society, we must abolish the war on drugs.
The fact that policing and incarceration, with historic roots in slavery and Indigenous genocide, are themselves forms of harm experienced by Black and Indigenous communities is increasingly recognized throughout Canadian society. [Keep reading]
