Race, ethnicity and the global war on drugs

Anita Kalunta-Crumpton

Chapter 19 in Research Handbook on Drugs and Society, 2026, pp 233-244 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The demand for and supply of drugs are activities that coexist, complement and need each other for survival. Both operate globally. Drug demand cuts across nations around the globe, including drug-producing and transit countries. Likewise, drug production is not confined to non-Western drug-producing countries. Drug supply itself functions in a complex network that intersects nations in all parts of the globe. This international relationship in drug demand, production and supply does not operate in a vacuum but requires a human labor force to sustain its existence. Thus, the relationship must cut across geographical, racial and ethnic boundaries. Despite these realities about the intersection of drug demand and supply, it has been the norm in Western discourses to blame the cause of its drug problem on non-Western countries and people of non-European origin. This chapter is a demonstration of how the global war on drugs, led by the West, constitutes a racialized war against specific countries and racial/ethnic groups.

Keywords: War on drugs; Race; Ethnicity; Drug demand; Drug supply; Racialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802209136
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