Maintaining order in the drug game: applying harm reduction principles to drug detective work
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Drug war rhetoric is losing favour in the political arena due to its increasingly obvious failures and there is a growing consensus amongst governing elites that something ought to change. Against this backdrop, the concept of ‘harm reduction’ has moved to the foreground of the research agenda and some policing agencies appear to be reconfiguring their enforcement interventions to focus on managing drug markets in a way that minimises the various associated harms. This article draws on the findings of an ethnographic study of specialist detective units in two English police services to examine how recent developments in drug policy discourse have been received and implemented at an operational level. Although there have been some positive advancements, it argues that changes to the prohibition regime are largely superficial and strong cultural resistance remains. The discussion considers how harm reduction principles might be better applied to the policing of drug markets.
Source: Police Practice and Research
Author: Matthew Bacon
Institution: University of Sheffield
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2341430385