Drug Use and Distribution
Drug Use and Distribution
Erich Goode (1994) "Deviance"
A.
Historic use of Opium and Morphine
B.
II.
Attitudes today
III. Drug Use
A.
Psychoactivity
B.
Recreational Dimension
C.
Illegality
D.
Public Definition
·
Psychological versus Physiological
·
Medical Addiction in the case of
heroin
(1)
Positive reinforcement theory
(2)
Negative reinforcement Theory
(3)
Combination of both
I. History: From War for Drugs to War on Drugs In the Opium Wars Europe made a war for Drugs.
I. A. Historic use of Opium and Morphine
Medical of Pseudomedical use (or excuse)
Teething pains of children
Menstrual cramps, toothaches, rheumatism
Heroin came on the market as a cough medicine
Demographics of addicts in nineteenth-century versus today
More women, less man
African Americans were under represented
I. B. Europe's War for Drugs - China's War on Drugs (1842)
China trying to outlaw the trade of opium conflicted with the interests of the Western world in opium trade.
The First Opium War
stemmed from China's efforts to ban the illegal importation of opium by British merchants. Britain scored an easy military victory. By the treaties of Nanjing (Nanking) in 1842 and the Bogue in 1843, China opened the ports of Guangzhou (Canton), Xiamen (Amoy), Fuzhou (Foochow), Ningbo (Ning-po), and Shanghai to British trade and residence, ceded Hong Kong to Britain, and granted Britain EXTRATERRITORIALITY, that is, the right to try British citizens in China in British courts. The other Western powers soon received similar privileges.
The Second Opium War,
or Anglo-French War, in China also resulted from China's objections to the opium trade.A joint offensive by Britain and France secured another victory. The Treaty of Tianjin (Tientsin) was signed in 1858, but the Chinese refused to ratify it. Hostilities resumed, and Beijing (Peking) was captured by the Western allies.
Interpretation using the
Conflict Approach
1. People are using their power to gain benefits
2.
Power here is the possibility of strong Western countries to impose trade
rules on the weaker
Basic Questions:
A)
Who benefits? Western
merchants who are powerful enough to influence their governments to use their
power.
B)
Who governs? The corporate Western world
C)
Who wins? The
Western capitalistic countries and their corporate power elite
Results:
1914 Harrison Narcotics Act
outlawed opiates and cocaine
1937 Marihuana Tax Act
II. Attitudes
Gallup Poll question: What is National Problem #1?
1973 20% drugs
1985 so low that it wasn't even listed
1985 April 2%
1986 July 8%
1989 September 64%
1989 November 38%
1990 July 18%
1990 August 10%
The American Moral Crusade on Drugs initiated a Moral Panic in the 1980s
Interpretation as a Moral Crusade
Media Attention in the 1980s
Media bias
Political
Attention
1986 Mayor of
1986 Governor of
1986 "Right now, you could put an amendement through to
hang, draw, and quarter" drug dealers.
"That's
what happens when you get an emotional issue like this" (Claude Pepper, Florida Representative).
1986 Reagan calls for war on
drugs. Spends $2 Billion + $56
Million for drug testing
1990s During the
2000 May 10 in a rose garden
press conference George W Bush announces his intent to relaunch the war on
drugs. Bush nominated ASA Hutchison to head of the National Drug Enforcement
Administration. Hutchison, a hardliner criticized
2002 Bush proposes a budget of
$19.2 Billion. $15 Billion go
directly to law enforcement including a 21% increase of federal prison funding
Moral Entrepreneurs
Celebrities like Nancy Reagan, Jesse Jackson, and Bob Hope were prominent spokespersons in moral crusade against drugs. Nancy claimed that every casual drug user was an "accomplice to murder".
Interest Groups Organizations
Using Moral Entrepreneurs to raise money and/or recruit members, interest groups get more influential. Organizations can be sponsored by the government.
Partnership for a Drug Free America
STOPP, Just Say No Club, DARE
III. Drug Use
Drugs are defined in using several dimensions:
Psychoactivity
Recreational Dimension
Public Definition
Illegality
Addiction
Disclaimer: The documents linked to other sources on the WWW, others than http://www2.tltc.ttu.edu/Schneider2/ and its subdirectories, do not necessarily express the views of Texas Tech University or Dr. Andreas Schneider. @Copyright 2002 Andreas Schneider