A History of Drugs: Drugs and Freedom in the Liberal Age [Paperback]

Why are some psychoactive substances regarded as dangerous drugs, to be controlled by the criminal law within a global prohibition regime, whilst others  from alcohol and tobacco, through to those we call medicines  are seen and regulated very differently? A History of Drugs traces a genealogy of the construction and governance of the drug problem over the past 200 years: calling into question some of the most fundamental ideas in this field: from addiction to the very concept of drugs. At the heart of the book is the claim that it was with the emergence in the late eighteenth century of modern liberal capitalism, with its distinctive emphasis on freedom, that our concerns about the consumption of some of these substances began to grow. And, indeed, notions of freedom, free will and responsibility remain central to the drug question today. Pursuing an innovative inter-disciplinary approach, A History of Drugs provides an informed and insightful account of the origins of contemporary drug policy. It will be essential reading for students and academics working in law, criminology, sociology, social policy, history and political science.

1. Introduction: Drugs, Freedom and Liberalism  2. A Conceptual Map: Freedom, the Will and Addiction  3. Opium, Regulation and Classical Liberalism: The Pharmacy Act 1868  4. Drugs, Prohibition and Welfarism: The Dangerous Drugs Act 1920  5. Drugs, Risk and Neo-Liberalism: The Drugs Act 2005  6. Drugs as a Regulation and Governance Problem  7. Conclusions: Drugs and Freedom in the Liberal Age

A History of Drugs details the history of the relationship between drugs and freedom over the last two hundred years; thus disturbing and unravelling the naturalness of the drug question, as it traces the multiple and heterogeneous lines of development out of whilã!