The political economy of drug-user scapegoating - and the philosophy and politics of resistance

Journal/Book: Drugs Educ Prev Policy. 1998; 5: PO Box 25, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England OX14 3UE. Carfax Publ Co. 15-32.

Abstract: In spite of years of drug tears and, in many countries, failure to implement harm-reduction approaches to HIV, drug use, drug injection, and IDU-associated HIV epidemics have spread to new countries and to many new individuals in countries where drug use and!or injection have been present for decades. Furthermore, the use of scapegoating rather than harm reduction seems to lend to worse medical care for IDUs with HIV and thus to higher probabilities of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and other epidemic consequences. When we ask why such failed policies continue, issues of political economy, of what needs to be changed, and of how such change can occur become important. Long-term global economic trends towards reduced profit rates and heightened competition, and the pressures these put on governments and corporations, have produced a period in which fundamental issues of political and economic structure are at stake; and, often, the response is a divide-and-rule politics to promote stability. National politics differ in term of the extent to which such a 'politics of scapegoating' is institutionalized and in terms of which groups are scapegoated. Drug users are extremely vulnerable to scapegoating, and such scapegoating can divide workers and neighborhoods in ways that weaken opposition to socioeconomic changes and policies and strengthen punitive and individualist ideologies. Thus, policies that maintain or increase drug-related harm may be less an 'error' than a rational way to defend the interests of the powerful. This implies that there is a need to develop a political understanding among harm reduction supporters that uses a broad conception of 'politics' that goes beyond interest-group politics to consider when and how it might be best to work with movements for social change from below rather than relying on wisdom or favors from elites. The same attacks on people's hopes, economic fortunes, and access to services that open some to the ideas of scapegoaters also can provide the opportunity for collective action against the social-structural sources of their problems. Such an approach raises the issue of why others should want to cooperate with harm-reductionists or users groups. Both the fact that scapegoating users may divide other movements' constituencies, and the overall value of harm reduction philosophy, may make it easier to form alliances. (Drug users' organizations will often be critical in this process.) We need to learn from efforts at working with other forces. Research and experience based presentations and papers on alliance-formation are needed. The different contexts in which harm reduction advocates work will lend to differences and debate-which should be conducted in ways that strengthen cooperation against drug-related harm.

Note: Article Friedman SR, Natl Dev & Res Inst Inc, World Trade Ctr 2, 16TH Floor, New York,NY 10048 USA

Keyword(s): NETWORKS; RISK; AIDS

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