Research PaperPolice crackdowns, structural violence and impact on the well-being of street cannabis users in a Nigerian city
Introduction
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in West Africa (UNODC, 2013). The region qualifies as the ‘epicentre of cannabis use’, with an estimated prevalence of 12. 4% among the adult population compared to the African average of 7.5% (UNODC, 2013). The possession and use of cannabis is legally prohibited in all countries of the region that are signatories to the 1961 single convention; the treaty which provides the major legal framework for international prohibition of cannabis (Wodak, Reineman, & Cohen, 2002). Cannabis accounts for the largest number of drug-related arrests in West Africa (INCB, 2013), with most arrests being for possession of small quantities for personal use.
Studies show that prohibition does not reduce cannabis use (Fergusson, Nicola, & Horwood, 2003; Korf, 2002; Reinarman, 2009; Reinarman, Cohen & Kaal, 2004), but produces social harms such as stigma, arrest and criminal record, disruption of relationships, loss of employment and housing, and the dispersion of cannabis markets and related violence (Asmussen, 2008; Lenton, 1999; van den Brink, 2008; Wodak, Reineman & Cohen, 2002).
The enforcement of prohibition has been identified as a structural mechanism perpetuating harms and suffering among drug users (Rhodes, 2002). Laws enforcement contributes to structural violence, defined as ‘indirect violence built into repressive social orders creating enormous differences between potential and actual human self-realization’ (Galtung, 1975, p. 173). It is an avoidable impairment of human life, which lowers the individual’s ability to meet his or her needs below what would otherwise be possible (Galtung, 1990, cited in Ho, 2007), and when fundamental needs are unmet, structural violence becomes violation of human rights (Ho, 2007). Structural violence is violation mediated and maintained by extant social structures and manifests in unequal power that produces unequal life chances. It is omnipresent because it is exercised from innumerable points (Foucault, 1980).
Policing practices mediate and exacerbate other forms of structural violence against drug users, which includes racism, discrimination, and socio-economic and gender inequalities (Bourgois, 1998; Bourgois, Prince, & Moss, 2004). Acting in conjunction, these forces constitute the relations, processes and conditions that embody and produce everyday violence in the lives of marginalized groups such as drug users. Structural violence is perpetrated by state institutions (e.g. criminal justice systems) and socio-cultural and material arrangements (Bulhan, 1985), leading to higher rates of mortality, morbidity and incarceration among vulnerable populations (James et al., 2003), such as drug users.
Structural violence becomes invisible through internalization and translates into a set of effects described as ‘oppression illness’, a stress disorder which results from ‘being the object of widespread and enduring social discrimination, degradation, structural violence and abusive derision’ (Singer, 2004, p. 17). Oppression illness, manifesting as acceptance of negative social stereotypes, self-blame, diminished self-efficacy, fatalism and low risk avoidance, have been reported in studies of policing practices (Rhodes et al., 2006; Sarang, Rhodes, Sheon, & Page, 2010). Structural violence constrains human agency and fosters unequal opportunity for the marginalized (Farmer, 1996). However, the over-determinism of structural approaches makes it necessary to ‘capture the dynamism of agency-structure transformations, in which environments constrain as well as enable agency, and are thus also produced and reproduced by participants’ practices’ (Rhodes et al., 2012, p. 210).
Studies of policing as structuration of violence have focused on drug injection. Policing interferes with the utilization of needle and syringe exchange services, discourages possession of injecting equipment and facilitates sharing of equipment and other high risk practices which increase the risk of HIV infection among drug injectors (Aitken, Moore, Higgs, Kelsall, & Kerger, 2002; Cooper, Moore, Gruskin, & Krieger, 2005; Small, Kerr, Charette, Schechter, & Spittal, 2006). The bulk of theoretically informed studies are those which explore policing as a structural mechanism, producing violence and suffering among homeless and street-based heroin injectors (Bourgois, 1998; Rhodes et al., 2012). But little is known about policing as structural violence against cannabis users, especially in non-western societies such as West Africa, where recreational cannabis use is the primary target of law enforcement.
Existing studies of law enforcement against cannabis use include those which examine its effects on rates of cannabis use (Williams, 2004; Ziedenberg & Colburn, 2005), and cannabis markets (Asmussen, 2008; Kleiman, 1989; Caulkins & Pacula, 2006; Moeller, 2009; Wilkins & Sweetsur, 2006). Research on the effects of law enforcement on cannabis users show the disproportionality of sanction for cannabis-related offences on immigrants (Beckett, Nyrop, Pfingst, & Bowen, 2005; Golub, Johnson, & Dunlap, 2006; King & Mauer, 2006; Moeller 2010; Pearson, 2007), and restrictive deterrence which produces risk-sensitivity and modification of use practices (Erickson, van der Maas, & Harthaway, 2013). Attempt has scarcely been made to understand policing of cannabis users as an expression of structural violence which has a negative impact on their well-being. Such studies are lacking in West Africa, where cannabis is a commonly used drug and enforcement is the hallmark of state response to drugs.
This study attempts to develop an understanding of police crackdowns on street cannabis users as structuration of violence. It also shows the effects of such violations on the well-being of users. As used in this study, the term ‘well-being’ refers to the condition of physical, psychological, social and economic wellness (Iguchi et al., 2002), while ‘police crackdowns’ refer to routine raids on cannabis hot-points by law enforcement officers to disrupt drug-related activities and arrest dealers and users. Drawing on cannabis users’ accounts of their experiences and responses to police crackdowns, the study explores how policing structures violence into the everyday life of cannabis users, exacerbating discrimination and suffering. It also shows that cannabis users are not passive victims of structural violations but human agents who adopt different, though often ineffective, strategies to manoeuvre the structural forces affecting their lives. This highlights the reciprocity of agency-structure interactions, whereby structure constrains as well as enables agency (Giddens, 1984). The findings will expand understanding of the social cost of prohibition and inform policies on cannabis.
Section snippets
Context
Use of psychoactive drugs in Nigeria has a long history (Obot, 2004). Epidemiological data emerging after independence indicated an increase in the use of cannabis, among other drugs (Asuni, 1964; Borroffka, 1966; Lambo, 1965) and since then surveys have shown increases in cannabis use across the country (Anumonye, 1980; Adelekan, Abiodun, Imouokhome-Obayan, Oni, & Ogunremi, 1993; Morakinjo & Odejide, 2003). Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in Nigeria, with a lifetime prevalence of
Design and purpose of study
The research is qualitative and descriptive and examines the impact of police crackdowns on the well-being of street cannabis users. The purpose is to provide insider (emic) perspectives on the negative impact of prohibition in order to inform cannabis policy. This locates the study within the activist research framework (Page & Singer, 2010). The study was conducted as part of outreach work to cannabis users. The outreach workers were peers (recovering drug users) who were trained and engaged
Participants: socio-demographic characteristics and cannabis use
Interviews elicited information on socio-demographic characteristics of the participating cannabis users. They were aged between 21 and 34 years and the majority (42) reported having a regular sexual partner. Most (57) had only primary education. They were mainly from economically deprived backgrounds, earning a precarious living from activities such as manual labour, security, inter-city commercial transportation, motor-park ticketing, touting, hair weaving and food vending. They were living
Discussion
This study explores street cannabis users’ accounts of police crackdowns on cannabis hot-points in a southern Nigerian city. Crackdowns, conducted by a special enforcement agency in conjunction with the police, have the dual aim of drug prohibition and crime prevention. Structural policies linking drug use to crime, along with popular stereotypes of drug users as criminals, contribute to labelling and targeting of street cannabis users as criminals. This fosters the normalization of police
Conflict of interest
None.
Acknowledgement
I am grateful to the study participants and the anonymous reviewers for their contribution. Gernot Klantschning and Emeka Dumbili read and commented on an earlier draft of the paper. The Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA) provided a supportive environment for the research.
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