| The focus of investigation for this study was the relevance of constructed drug policy to the lived-experience of Black American women involved with crack cocaine. The study was conducted with combined qualitative methods of deconstruction and phenomenology. An analysis of treatment and sanction provisions of U.S. drug policies from 1960 to 2000 demonstrates that the historic crime or disease debate was a false dichotomy, and that socioeconomic factors influencing drug use behavior have been minimized in the construction of drug policy. A total of fifty participants interviewed included twenty women involved with drug policy and thirty drug policy implementors from the criminal justice, health care, and child welfare systems. Findings suggest that the construction of drug treatment services, i.e. health, mental health, housing, education, job training, employment, are the same resources needed in the lives of the women prior to their problem drug use. For this population, the constructions of race, class, and gender should be considered in examining the relationship between the government and its citizens in the constructions of social policy, and the availability of resources that can contribute to both the development of and resolution to problem drug use. |
