James Adams: Toxic Public Welfare

This image demonstrates how the logics and ethics of the police state enable such vital public infrastructures as Santa Ana's needle exchange program to be eradicated under the false pretenses of protecting "public welfare." It also shows a high level of ignorance or disregard, among Santa Ana's city officials, for the well-established findings and recommendations made by medical anthropologists and other social scientists that study HIV transmission. Together these observations demonstrate how cultural and structural factors, like the criminalization and moralization of certain self-destructive behaviours, amplify the effective toxicity of highly addictive drugs and infectious diseases like HIV.