10 - Ethnicity, Drugs, and Crime

Summary

INTRODUCTION

There is surprisingly little research in the United Kingdom on drug misuse and associated problems among members of ethnic minority groups. In 1998, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (1998) reported that the influence of ethnicity on illicit drug use in the United Kingdom was an ‘under-researched topic’ (p. 25). This lack of information on ethnicity and drugs also has been reported in other countries. Fountain and colleagues (2004) noted the following in relation to Europe:

In several European Union countries drug use amongst black and minority ethnic communities is largely unacknowledged, ignored, unrecognised, or hidden by some policy-makers, drugs researchers, drug service planners and commissioners and by some members of some black and minority ethnic communities themselves. (p. 362)

Rounds-Bryant, Motivans, and Pelissier (2003) claimed that even in studies where ethnic minorities had been included, many investigators fail to report findings for individual ethnic groups. Others have criticized drug research for focusing on some ethnic groups and ignoring others (Fountain, Bashford, Winters, and Patel, 2003). The absence of research in this area has been attributed in part to the differing cultural values of ethnic groups. Reid, Crofts, and Beyer (2001) state that illicit drug use in minority ethnic communities is often associated with denial, shame, stigma, and loss of face. As a result, there might be some reluctance among researchers to investigate these sensitive topic areas.