Women, illegal drugs and prison: views from Canada

Abstract

Current international consensus is that the ‘war on drugs’ has not curtailed the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and consumption of illegal substances. This article focuses on the particular effects of this ‘war’ on women, and specifically on the selective criminalization and incarceration of drug users. The authors deconstruct a number of myths related to drug use, and discuss ways by which race, class and gender biases are engrained in punitive drug-related social and criminal justice policies. From a critical analysis, they argue that legalization is the only sensible recourse in addressing ‘the drug problem’.