Exploring the Experiences of Blacks in Harlem after 30 Years of Concentrated Racialized Drug Enforcement Policies: Cultural Implications for an Additional Measure of Recovery Capital

Racialized drug enforcement policies related to the heroin epidemic of the 1970’s, the crack epidemic of the 1980’s and the 2020 opioid epidemic have impacted the recovery capital of Blacks in US inner cities, such as Harlem, New York. Recovery capital refers to various measures which are important to the attainment of long-term recovery. These may include physical (e.g., work, housing), human (e.g., skills, internal resources), social (e.g., relationships), and cultural (e.g., beliefs, spirituality) capital. Previous research has suggested that a fifth dimension called negative recovery capital, such as mass incarceration, hindered but did not prevent the attainment of recovery capital. However, there is a void in this research, which neglected to explore the impact of a sixth domain called political capital. This research fills this gap through phenomenology and explored the lived experiences and perspective of Blacks in Harlem. The aim is to understand the impact of 30 years of racialized drug enforcement policies on their attainment of traditional recovery capital domains (e.g., access to physical, human, social, cultural and negative recovery capital) -- including an important sixth dimension of recovery capital measurement: the critical and previously overlooked domain of political capital. Findings garnered from this study can help to inform, develop and/or refine comprehensive and culturally responsive drug enforcement policies