This qualitative study was designed to explore the impact of a police drug crackdown on 1) the injection practices of injection drug users residing in the target precinct and 2) community well-being, as experienced by all precinct residents, including those who do not use illicit drugs. To explore these topics, a qualitative study of one precinct located in the Bronx, New York City was conducted. Over a six-month period, forty injection-drug-using precinct residents and twenty-five non-drug-using precinct residents were interviewed; study participants were recruited through snowball sampling techniques. Interviews explored residents' experiences with and perceptions of the police; drug injectors were also asked about ways that the police shaped their injection practices. Police officials, local politicians, and staff at programs delivering drug-related health services to precinct residents were also interviewed. Study results suggest that 1) the crackdown exerted a deleterious effect on injectors' capacity to engage in a wide range of harm reduction practices; this was particularly true for residents who injected in public and semi-public spaces; and 2) the crackdown damaged some aspects of community well-being, including drug-using and non-drug-using residents' sense of safety in public spaces, community control, and comfort moving about and interacting in the community's public spaces. Study results also indicate that 1) health impact assessments be conducted for the various drug-related police strategies currently implemented; and 2) future research on the relationship between policing and users' health specify the police strategy at issue and consider the ways in which its particular nuances affect injectors' health.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to: 1) describe ways that a drug crackdown shapes community well-being and drug injectors' ability to engage in harm reduction; and 2) identify ways of strengthening future research on the relationship between policing and drug injectors' health.
Keywords: Injection Drug Users,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.