Abstract for: Don't bury the lede: Structural racism requires different structures

The Drug War is both historically and presently based in racist notions of who most deserves to be punished for their use of drugs (i.e., Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples, especially in disinvested communities). While White people also use drugs at similar rates, they are not subject to the same level of surveillance, and thus punishment, for their drug use. These sharply contrasting realities became apparent during group model building workshops convened with a partner non-governmental organization interested in drug policy research and advocacy. The feedback loops described differed significantly by race and class, enough that we decided to create distinct causal loop diagrams. We describe these diagrams and offer some comments on implications for system dynamics practitioners who make regular use of causal loop diagrams.