SWK 5002| Week 6: Policy Analysis
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SWK5002PolicySelectionandBackground.docx
SWK5002ExplorationofSocialJustice.docx
SWK5002PolicySelectionandBackground.docx
2
Policy Selection and Background
Tierainie C. Johnson, MS, MCAP
Capella University
SWK 5002- Social Welfare History Policy Practice
Professor Anna Richmond, LAPSW, LISW
May 10, 2026
Policy Selection and Background
Social policy is largely concerned with social justice. However, policies aimed at tackling issues in society can also lead to inequality and oppression. The policy dynamic of social work is critical in recognizing the advantages and the unforeseen outcomes of policies in the social work field. The Controlled Substances Act is one of the key federal policies that exemplify this tension. The policy was introduced in 1970 in response to the need by the United States to regulate the use and distribution of drugs (Lampe, 2025). Despite aiming to safeguard the health of the population and minimize drug abuse, the policy has been widely criticized as having disproportionately impacted the Black and Hispanic communities and contributed to systemic inequality. Substance use and incarceration for drug-related problems are long-standing social justice issues that are both intersectional in nature and combine with race, socioeconomic status, and access to medical care and legal services. The issue is not new, but an extension of historical trends of discrimination embedded within legal and political systems. This paper explores the mission and objectives, programs and services, and the history of the Controlled Substances Act.
Purpose of the Policy
The main aim of the Controlled Substances Act is to regulate the production, distribution, and use of some drugs using a hierarchical classification system. This system classifies substances into five schedules rooted in their accepted medical use, potential abuse, and potential to cause dependency (Ortiz and Preuss, 2024). Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous and do not have an endorsement under medical use, and the likelihood of abuse is high. Conversely, Schedule V substances are considered to be less risky and have accepted medical use. The policy was developed to create a unified federal effort to regulate drugs, replacing inconsistent state regulations and giving them clear guidelines on rules of enforcement and control.
As Otiz and Preuss (2024) describe, the policy is a health intervention aimed at decreasing substance abuse and safeguarding communities. Nevertheless, practically, it has acted more as a criminal justice policy. Instead of focusing on treatment and prevention of controlled substances, the law focuses on the punishment of possessing, distributing, and manufacturing controlled substances. Studies have shown that such a punitive process has not helped decrease the rate of drug use but instead has also caused a rise in mass incarceration (DEA, 2025).
Programs and Services Provided Through the Policy
The Controlled Substances Act supports numerous programs and services aimed at drug enforcement, prevention, and treatment. The most conspicuous one is enforcement programs, which involve federal and state agencies that control the drug-related activities, carry out investigations, and prosecute individuals violating drug laws (Lampe, 2025). Such attempts include surveillance, arrests, and imprisonment, which form the backbone of the policy implementation.
Prevention programs are also part of the policy framework and entail a public education campaign that discourages drug use. In many cases, these programs address the youth and strive to address the issue of raising awareness of the dangers of using the substance. Though prevention programs are important, it is often dominated by the enforcement programs that limit their overall effectiveness.
Moreover, the policy offers assistance with treatment services. These services include substance-abuse rehabilitation programs, counseling, and medication-assisted therapeutic programs for individuals with substance abuse. However, these services are not equally accessible, particularly among marginalized populations (Lampe, 2025). High cost, absence of insurance, the fact that there are not enough treatment centers, and stigma are some of the barriers that many individuals have to face. Consequently, services offered by the policy fail to sufficiently respond to the needs of all the impacted populations.
Target Population for Programs and Services
The target population groups covered in programs and services in the Controlled Substances Act would include individual users of controlled substances, persons at risk of use of controlled substances, and victims of crime related to drug use. Ideally, this policy is applicable to all people irrespective of race or socioeconomic status. However, in actuality, its impacts have disproportionately affected the Black and Hispanic communities.
As Rouhani et al. (2023) report, there is a comparatively equal distribution of drug use across racial lines. Minority groups have a significantly higher likelihood of being arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for committing drug crimes. Such a disproportion refers to structural, deep-rooted ills of the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system has long-term implications on many people in these communities, including job loss, housing insecurity, and social stigma. The findings are also part of the poverty and inequality cycle that leaves the affected individuals in a difficult situation where they can hardly reconnect with society.
Connection Between the Policy and the Social Justice Problem
The Controlled Substances Act is directly related to the social justice issue of racial inequality in the enforcement of the act and the mass incarceration. The problem has been lingering for decades and appears to be a general tendency of systemic discrimination in the United States (Sonderlund et al., 2022). Although the policy was meant to deal with drug abuse, the implementation of the policy has helped cause unequal results among various racial and ethnic groups.
This social justice issue is a continuation of historical inequalities that have never been resolved completely. Criminalization of drug use has resulted in an unequal distribution of incarceration and other adverse consequences related to social and economic disadvantage towards the marginalized communities. Such inequalities do harm the processes of social justice, as they restrict access to opportunities and perpetuate inequality. As Cohen et al. (2022) indicate, the policies towards punishment for drugs do not work better compared with public health policies that emphasize treatment and harm reduction. The Controlled Substances Act did not prove effective in addressing the actual causes of substance abuse, such as poverty, trauma, and lack of access to healthcare (Cohen et al., 2022). Consequently, the policy still creates a social justice issue of its own that the policy was meant to address.
Historical Issues and Context of the Policy
The Controlled Substances Act was adopted during a period of many social and political changes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through this period, related issues such as the perceived threats to the population and the growing visibility around substance use informed policymakers to seek stringent regulatory actions. Congress passed the legislation with very strong bipartisan support and was signed into law by Richard Nixon, who framed drug abuse as a national crisis. As much as the policy was presented as a required public health response, it was also influenced by political interests and societal biases. Other academics show that the systemic enforcement measures were disproportionately directed elsewhere at Black communities and political activists (Manneh, 2025).
The policy voting outcomes showed that there was a vast majority among political parties, which is possibly an indication of a single attitude towards drug control. Leadership in the legislature at that time pointed out that they needed to have a comprehensive framework that would regulate the use of the substances and reduce crime. The policy was also expanded over the years as tougher sentencing legislation reforms were introduced, and inflexible measures of enforcement were also put in place. These tendencies enhanced a punitive approach and resulted in significant increases in incarceration rates among the minority population. Such inequalities are beginning to be accepted and reforms encouraged by policymakers today, although it is a slow and uneven process.
The historical aspects of the policy continue to shape the implementation process. The emphasis on enforcement has directed resources to policing and incarceration at the expense of prevention and treatment services (Washington, 2021). This lack of balance has constrained the efficiency of the policy in addressing substance use as a health issue in society. In addition, the historical context of racial disparities has created a mistrust factor among the affected communities, which contributes to the resistance to responses and support.
Conclusion
The Controlled Substances Act illustrates that a policy formulated to address a burning social problem can contribute to inequality and injustice. Even though the policy was developed to regulate drug usage and have a positive impact on the overall health of the population, its implementation has disproportionately impacted marginalized populations and has increased systemic inequalities. The policy has placed a lot of emphasis on enforcing the programs and services instead of placing much emphasis on preventing and treating, which the policy has not addressed.
References
Cohen, A., Vakharia, S. P., Netherland, J., & Frederique, K. (2022). How the war on drugs impacts social determinants of health beyond the criminal legal system. Annals of Medicine, 54(1), 2024–2038. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2022.2100926
DEA. (2025). The controlled substances act. Www.dea.gov. https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/csa
Lampe, J. R. (2025, January 22). The Controlled Substances Act (CSA): A Legal Overview for the 119th Congress. Congress.gov. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45948
Manneh, T. (2025, June 2). Controlled Substances, controlled people: How drug laws reinforce colonial power structures. Drug Science. https://www.drugscience.org.uk/controlled-substances-controlled-people
Ortiz, N. R., & Preuss, C. V. (2024). Controlled Substance Act. In www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK574544/
Rouhani, S., Tomko, C., Silberzahn, B. E., Weicker, N. P., & Sherman, S. G. (2023). Racial disparities in drug arrest before and after “de facto” decriminalization in Baltimore. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 65(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2023.04.004
Sonderlund, A. L., Charifson, M., Ortiz, R., Khan, M., Schoenthaler, A., & Williams, N. J. (2022). A comprehensive framework for operationalizing structural racism in health research: The association between mass incarceration of Black people in the U.S. and adverse birth outcomes. SSM - Population Health, 19, 101225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101225
Washington, M. (2021, November). Beyond Jails: Community-Based Strategies for Public Safety. Vera Institute of Justice. https://www.vera.org/beyond-jails-community-based-strategies-for-public-safety
SWK5002PolicySelectionandBackground.docx
2
Policy Selection and Background
Tierainie C. Johnson, MS, MCAP
Capella University
SWK 5002- Social Welfare History Policy Practice
Professor Anna Richmond, LAPSW, LISW
May 10, 2026
Policy Selection and Background
Social policy is largely concerned with social justice. However, policies aimed at tackling issues in society can also lead to inequality and oppression. The policy dynamic of social work is critical in recognizing the advantages and the unforeseen outcomes of policies in the social work field. The Controlled Substances Act is one of the key federal policies that exemplify this tension. The policy was introduced in 1970 in response to the need by the United States to regulate the use and distribution of drugs (Lampe, 2025). Despite aiming to safeguard the health of the population and minimize drug abuse, the policy has been widely criticized as having disproportionately impacted the Black and Hispanic communities and contributed to systemic inequality. Substance use and incarceration for drug-related problems are long-standing social justice issues that are both intersectional in nature and combine with race, socioeconomic status, and access to medical care and legal services. The issue is not new, but an extension of historical trends of discrimination embedded within legal and political systems. This paper explores the mission and objectives, programs and services, and the history of the Controlled Substances Act.
Purpose of the Policy
The main aim of the Controlled Substances Act is to regulate the production, distribution, and use of some drugs using a hierarchical classification system. This system classifies substances into five schedules rooted in their accepted medical use, potential abuse, and potential to cause dependency (Ortiz and Preuss, 2024). Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous and do not have an endorsement under medical use, and the likelihood of abuse is high. Conversely, Schedule V substances are considered to be less risky and have accepted medical use. The policy was developed to create a unified federal effort to regulate drugs, replacing inconsistent state regulations and giving them clear guidelines on rules of enforcement and control.
As Otiz and Preuss (2024) describe, the policy is a health intervention aimed at decreasing substance abuse and safeguarding communities. Nevertheless, practically, it has acted more as a criminal justice policy. Instead of focusing on treatment and prevention of controlled substances, the law focuses on the punishment of possessing, distributing, and manufacturing controlled substances. Studies have shown that such a punitive process has not helped decrease the rate of drug use but instead has also caused a rise in mass incarceration (DEA, 2025).
Programs and Services Provided Through the Policy
The Controlled Substances Act supports numerous programs and services aimed at drug enforcement, prevention, and treatment. The most conspicuous one is enforcement programs, which involve federal and state agencies that control the drug-related activities, carry out investigations, and prosecute individuals violating drug laws (Lampe, 2025). Such attempts include surveillance, arrests, and imprisonment, which form the backbone of the policy implementation.
Prevention programs are also part of the policy framework and entail a public education campaign that discourages drug use. In many cases, these programs address the youth and strive to address the issue of raising awareness of the dangers of using the substance. Though prevention programs are important, it is often dominated by the enforcement programs that limit their overall effectiveness.
Moreover, the policy offers assistance with treatment services. These services include substance-abuse rehabilitation programs, counseling, and medication-assisted therapeutic programs for individuals with substance abuse. However, these services are not equally accessible, particularly among marginalized populations (Lampe, 2025). High cost, absence of insurance, the fact that there are not enough treatment centers, and stigma are some of the barriers that many individuals have to face. Consequently, services offered by the policy fail to sufficiently respond to the needs of all the impacted populations.
Target Population for Programs and Services
The target population groups covered in programs and services in the Controlled Substances Act would include individual users of controlled substances, persons at risk of use of controlled substances, and victims of crime related to drug use. Ideally, this policy is applicable to all people irrespective of race or socioeconomic status. However, in actuality, its impacts have disproportionately affected the Black and Hispanic communities.
As Rouhani et al. (2023) report, there is a comparatively equal distribution of drug use across racial lines. Minority groups have a significantly higher likelihood of being arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for committing drug crimes. Such a disproportion refers to structural, deep-rooted ills of the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system has long-term implications on many people in these communities, including job loss, housing insecurity, and social stigma. The findings are also part of the poverty and inequality cycle that leaves the affected individuals in a difficult situation where they can hardly reconnect with society.
Connection Between the Policy and the Social Justice Problem
The Controlled Substances Act is directly related to the social justice issue of racial inequality in the enforcement of the act and the mass incarceration. The problem has been lingering for decades and appears to be a general tendency of systemic discrimination in the United States (Sonderlund et al., 2022). Although the policy was meant to deal with drug abuse, the implementation of the policy has helped cause unequal results among various racial and ethnic groups.
This social justice issue is a continuation of historical inequalities that have never been resolved completely. Criminalization of drug use has resulted in an unequal distribution of incarceration and other adverse consequences related to social and economic disadvantage towards the marginalized communities. Such inequalities do harm the processes of social justice, as they restrict access to opportunities and perpetuate inequality. As Cohen et al. (2022) indicate, the policies towards punishment for drugs do not work better compared with public health policies that emphasize treatment and harm reduction. The Controlled Substances Act did not prove effective in addressing the actual causes of substance abuse, such as poverty, trauma, and lack of access to healthcare (Cohen et al., 2022). Consequently, the policy still creates a social justice issue of its own that the policy was meant to address.
Historical Issues and Context of the Policy
The Controlled Substances Act was adopted during a period of many social and political changes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through this period, related issues such as the perceived threats to the population and the growing visibility around substance use informed policymakers to seek stringent regulatory actions. Congress passed the legislation with very strong bipartisan support and was signed into law by Richard Nixon, who framed drug abuse as a national crisis. As much as the policy was presented as a required public health response, it was also influenced by political interests and societal biases. Other academics show that the systemic enforcement measures were disproportionately directed elsewhere at Black communities and political activists (Manneh, 2025).
The policy voting outcomes showed that there was a vast majority among political parties, which is possibly an indication of a single attitude towards drug control. Leadership in the legislature at that time pointed out that they needed to have a comprehensive framework that would regulate the use of the substances and reduce crime. The policy was also expanded over the years as tougher sentencing legislation reforms were introduced, and inflexible measures of enforcement were also put in place. These tendencies enhanced a punitive approach and resulted in significant increases in incarceration rates among the minority population. Such inequalities are beginning to be accepted and reforms encouraged by policymakers today, although it is a slow and uneven process.
The historical aspects of the policy continue to shape the implementation process. The emphasis on enforcement has directed resources to policing and incarceration at the expense of prevention and treatment services (Washington, 2021). This lack of balance has constrained the efficiency of the policy in addressing substance use as a health issue in society. In addition, the historical context of racial disparities has created a mistrust factor among the affected communities, which contributes to the resistance to responses and support.
Conclusion
The Controlled Substances Act illustrates that a policy formulated to address a burning social problem can contribute to inequality and injustice. Even though the policy was developed to regulate drug usage and have a positive impact on the overall health of the population, its implementation has disproportionately impacted marginalized populations and has increased systemic inequalities. The policy has placed a lot of emphasis on enforcing the programs and services instead of placing much emphasis on preventing and treating, which the policy has not addressed.
References
Cohen, A., Vakharia, S. P., Netherland, J., & Frederique, K. (2022). How the war on drugs impacts social determinants of health beyond the criminal legal system. Annals of Medicine, 54(1), 2024–2038. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2022.2100926
DEA. (2025). The controlled substances act. Www.dea.gov. https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/csa
Lampe, J. R. (2025, January 22). The Controlled Substances Act (CSA): A Legal Overview for the 119th Congress. Congress.gov. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45948
Manneh, T. (2025, June 2). Controlled Substances, controlled people: How drug laws reinforce colonial power structures. Drug Science. https://www.drugscience.org.uk/controlled-substances-controlled-people
Ortiz, N. R., & Preuss, C. V. (2024). Controlled Substance Act. In www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK574544/
Rouhani, S., Tomko, C., Silberzahn, B. E., Weicker, N. P., & Sherman, S. G. (2023). Racial disparities in drug arrest before and after “de facto” decriminalization in Baltimore. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 65(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2023.04.004
Sonderlund, A. L., Charifson, M., Ortiz, R., Khan, M., Schoenthaler, A., & Williams, N. J. (2022). A comprehensive framework for operationalizing structural racism in health research: The association between mass incarceration of Black people in the U.S. and adverse birth outcomes. SSM - Population Health, 19, 101225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101225
Washington, M. (2021, November). Beyond Jails: Community-Based Strategies for Public Safety. Vera Institute of Justice. https://www.vera.org/beyond-jails-community-based-strategies-for-public-safety
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