Drugs, race, and defunding the police: daring to dream

This chapter examines the role of drug law enforcement in the over-policing of black and minority ethnic communities in light of recent calls to defund the police. Starting in the United States, it is shown that the war on drugs is a key driver of the problems the defunding movement is seeking to address. Turning to England and Wales, it is also shown that there are sufficient parallels with the United States for calls to defund the police to be taken more seriously. In developing this claim, the analysis demonstrates: (i) drug policing concentrates on low-level possession offences and is key to the criminalisation of black communities; (ii) police adapted to the funding cuts resulting from austerity to maintain the disproportionate focus on drug offences by black people; and (iii) repeated reform efforts have failed to resolve the over-policing of black communities. Ultimately, it is argued that calls to defund the police are best seen as a demand for full citizenship by racialised and minoritised communities, and that drug reform is essential to realising this demand.