Drug Decriminalization in Maryland Through an African Centered Research Paradigm- Analysis and Recommendations

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of slavery and institutional racism on not only the economic conditions of African- American families but also the psychosocial functioning and well-being of these families. If substance abuse is viewed partly as a reaction to severe psychosocial stress and economic albatrosses, the opportunities provided by affirmative-action policies might help to diminish substance abuse in the African- American community. Hence, future research should examine the impact of enhanced educational and employment opportunities on African Americans' level of substance use and abuse. The latter recommendations focus on the victims of racial oppression, but what about the political and economic beneficiaries of racial oppression? Since it was argued that their privileged status can place them at risk of substance abuse, what can be done to alleviate the fear, anger, and guilt associated with this privilege that can contribute to substance abuse? Fundamentally, the system of racial oppression has to be eliminated to completely destroy these feelings. Although the abolition of racial oppression may take just as long as its creation and evolution, a few steps can be taken that might help ease, but perhaps not eliminate, these feelings, particularly those of fear (i.e., anxiety) and guilt.” (Schile, 2013). Jerome Schiele presents a summation of the research of Kobi Kambon, who argues that programming which promote what he called an “African self-consciousness” (ASC) could have a protective effect for Black people in relation to addiction, writing: “The African self-consciousness (ASC) construct, discussed in the last chapter, can be employed as an indicator of an African American's level of group commitment to other people of African descent when one examines the four dimensions of the construct presented by Kambon (1992, p. 56): 1. Awareness of one's African identity (a collective consciousness) and African cultural heritage, and sees value in the pursuit of knowledge of self. 2. Recognition of African survival and positive development as one's number one priority. 4151 Park Heights Avenue, Suite 207, Baltimore, MD 21215 • www.lbsbaltimore.com • (410) 374-7683
3. Respect for and active perpetuation of things African: African life and African cultural institutions. 4. Maintaining a standard of conduct of resolute and uncompromising resistance to all things anti-African. Together, the dimensions of ASC echo a common theme: ethnic con-sciousness engenders group commitment. Regarding drug abuse, it is assumed that as a youth's ASC decreases,his or her level of substance abuse is likely to increase. It is further assumed that when an African-American youth does not internalize high ASC, he or she will probably not be as concerned with eliminating the oppression that black people face and, thus, would have little desire to advance black people politically, culturally, and economically. To the extent that a youth is not conscious of the oppression of people of African descent, one may be unaware of the manifold subtle and insidious ways the system of oppression maintains control over African Americans. The over availability of illicit drugs and liquor stores in many African-American communities probably would not be recognized by persons with low ASC as a possible strategy to dominate and manipulate African Americans. Therefore, youths with this mind-set may be at a greater risk of abusing substances because they lack understanding of the political and economic function of substance abuse within the context of oppression, as discussed earlier in this chapter. Moreover, persons with low ASC, as opposed to those with high ASC, may be less likely to participate in black liberation struggles and, therefore, may fail to acknowledge that substance abuse significantly inhibits their ability to optimally contribute to these struggles. Some evidence suggests that the ASC construct may help to explicate self-destructive behaviors among African-American drug abusers. In the only study uncovered that has examined the effects of ASC on African-American drug abusers, Dixon and Azibo (1998) found that African-American male crack-cocaine users who had ASC scores that represented a higher level of group commitment tended to participate less in exploitative means to earn a living than those who had ASC scores that demon-strated lower levels of African-American group commitment. Earning a living via exploitative means was defined by the authors as participation in thefts, robberies, selling stolen goods, and hustling people in licit and illicit ways. Although Dixon and Azibo did not examine whether lower ASC places one at greater risk of using or abusing drugs, their findings are important in that ASC may help to explain the variance in criminal behavior among African-American crack cocaine users and abusers. Future research needs to explore the effects of ASC orientation on African Americans who become drug abusers and those who do not. In the Dixon and Azibo study, all of the subjects were drug abusers. Although not using the ASC construct, Gary and Berry (1985) found a significant relationship between awareness of racial oppression and attitudes about substance abuse among 411 randomly sampled African Americans. Awareness that racial oppression was 4151 Park Heights Avenue, Suite 207, Baltimore, MD 21215 • www.lbsbaltimore.com • (410) 374-7683
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Drug Decriminalization in Maryland Through an African Centered Research Paradigm- Analysis and Recommendations

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