Decontextualizing the war on drugs: A content analysis of nij publications and their neglect of race and class*

Abstract

Given the scope and depth of current drug control campaigns, scholars must investigate the various contours and contexts of prevailing drug policies. Relying on the theoretical framework of social constructionism, researchers continue to explore how government agencies selectively publicize some aspects of drug policy while ignoring other pertinent issues. In this study we conduct a content analysis of a sample of National Institute of Justice (NIJ) research publications on drug control. Our findings reveal that numerous reports appear to be decontextualized insofar as race and class are either addressed inadequately or ignored altogether. Given the volume of evidence documenting that the war on drugs disproportionately affects people of color and the impoverished, this form of decontextualization serves as propaganda by concealing the racial and socioeconomic biases of current drug control strategies.