"Drugs and Society". Taught by Craig Reinarman, University of California at Santa Cruz, Department of Sociology, CA. 2003.
The ingestion of chemicals for purposes of altering consciousness has been practiced in virtually all human cultures and in all epochs of history. Sometimes this has resulted in problems, sometimes not, depending on how a society defines and deals with drug use and on how well it takes care of its citizens.
Contrary to current conventional wisdom, the mere use of drugs does not necessarily constitute drug "abuse," nor is the mere existence of human suffering or social harm from such drug use always defined as a "drug problem." The total social costs from the harm done by a single legal drug like alcohol or tobacco dwarf the total costs related to all illicit drugs combined. Yet, we tend to think of alcohol and tobacco use as "normal" (if unhealthy) and the use of other drugs as "deviant." Historically, such definitions have never been based on "objective" evidence of risk or harm, but rather have been reflections of a society's conflicts and expressions of a culture's fears. Such conflicts and fears shape both the patterns and consequences of drug use and the society’s drug policy responses. In this course we will explore these definitional processes.
This course is not a "just say no" course, but neither is it a "how to" course. The first objective is to explore the social, cultural, political and economic processes that shape our understanding of and policies toward drugs. A second objective is to provide an historical and theoretical grasp of the social causes and consequences of the use and abuse of consciousness-altering substances. Third, the course attempts to stimulate critical thinking about policies that can reduce the harms associated with drug use -- and those associated with drug policy.
REQUIRED TEXTS (available only at the Literary Guillotine, 204 Locust St., Santa Cruz)
Wolfgang Schivelbusch, Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants (Vintage/Random House, 1992)
Erich Goode, Drugs in American Society, 5th Edition (McGraw Hill, 2000)
Craig Reinarman and Harry Levine et al., Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice (University of California Press, 1997) [chapters identified below with "R & L"]
Mike Gray, editor, Busted: Stone Cowboys, Narco-Lords and Washington’s War on Drugs (Nation Books, 2002) [chapters identified below with "Gray"]
SUGGESTED TEXTS FOR FURTHER READING
Lynn Zimmer and John Morgan, Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts (Bookworld, 800-444-2524)
Lester Grinspoon and James Bakalar, Marihuana, The Forbidden Medicine (Yale, 1993)
Eva Bertram, Kenneth Sharpe, et al., Drug War Politics (University of California Press, 1996)
M. Norris, C. Conrad, and V. Resner, Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's
Drug War (El Cerrito, CA: Creative Expressions; 510-215-8326)
1. THEORY: CONSTRUCTING DRUG PROBLEMS [weeks 1 & 2]
Gray, Introduction to Busted
Goode, Ch. 1, Drugs and Drug Use
Goode, Ch. 2, Looking at Drugs: A Sociological Perspective
Goode, Ch. 3, Theories of Drug Use
Goode, Ch. 4, The Extent of Drug Use in America
Reinarman & Levine, Ch. 1, Crack in Context: America’s Latest Demon Drug
Reinarman & Levine, The Crack Attack: Politics and Media in the Crack Scare [R&L]
Bourgois, In Search of Horatio Alger: Culture & Ideology in the Crack Economy [R&L]
Goldstein et al., Crack and Homicide in New York City [R&L]
Hitchens, America’s Dirty War on Drugs [Gray]
Friedman, There’s No Justice In the War on Drugs [Gray]
2. DRUGS THROUGH AN HISTORICAL-COMPARATIVE LENS [weeks 3 & 4]
Reinarman, Why Dutch Drug Policy Threatens the U.S. [Gray]
Schivelbusch, Ch. 1, Spices, or the Dawn of the Modern Age
Schivelbusch, Ch. 2, Coffee and the Protestant Ethic
Schivelbusch, Ch. 3, Chocolate, Catholicism, and the Ancien Regime
Schivelbusch, Ch. 5, The Industrial Revolution, Beer, and Liquor
Schivelbusch, Ch. 8, Artificial Paradises of the 19th Century ... Opium
Duster, Pattern, Purpose, and Race in the Drug War [R&L]
Cheung & Erickson, Crack Use in Canada [R&L]
Mugford, Crack Use in Australia [R&L]
Cohen, Crack in The Netherlands [R&L]
T.D. Allman, Blowback [Gray]
Oliver Stone, A Talk with Manuel Noriega [Gray]
Frank, BYO Heroin [Gray]
3. "DEVIANT" DRUGS: PLEASURES AND PROBLEMS [weeks 5 and 6]
Walters, The Myth of "Harmless" Marijuana [Gray]
Stroup and Armentano, The Problem in Pot Prohibition [Gray]
Goode, Ch. 9, Stimulants (sections on amphetamine and cocaine)
Reinarman et al., The Contingent Call of the Pipe: Bingeing & Addiction [R&L]
Murphy and Rosenbaum, Two Women Who Used Cocaine Too Much [R&L]
Morgan & Zimmer, The Social Pharmacology of Smokeable Cocaine [R&L]
Bourgois, Workaday World, Crack Economy: Breaking Rocks in El Barrio [Gray]
Goode, Ch. 11, Heroin and the Narcotics
Grob, The Politics of Ecstasy [Gray]
Goode, Ch. 8, Hallucinogens
Buckley, Schmoke, McNamara, & Sweet, The War on Drugs is Lost [Gray]
Grinspoon, Wither Medical Marijuana [Gray]
4. "NORMAL" DRUGS: BOOZE, BUTTS, PILLS, PROFITS [weeks 7& 8]
Gould, The War on (Some) Drugs [Gray]
Schenk, America’s Altered States [Gray]
Schivelbusch, Ch. 6, Rituals
Schivelbusch, Ch. 7, Drinking Places
Goode, Ch. 6, Alcohol
Schivelbusch, Ch. 4, Tobacco: The Dry Inebriant
Goode, Ch. 9, Stimulants (section on tobacco)
Goode, Ch. 10, Psychotherapeutic Drugs
Sullum, No Relief in Sight [Gray]
5. REDUCING HARM: TREATMENT, LAW, AND POLICY [weeks 9&10]
Goode, Ch. 12, Drug Treatment, Drug Testing, and Drug Education
Szalavitz, Breaking out of the 12-step Lockstep [Gray]
Szalavitz, Drug Abuse Treatment or Drug Treatment Abuse [Gray]
Glasser & Siegel, When Constitutional Rights Seem Too Extravagant to Endure [R&L]
Siegel, The Pregnancy Police Fight the War on Drugs [R&L]
Goode, Ch. 13, Drugs and the Law
Boyd and Hitt, This is Your Bill of Rights [Gray]
Kopel, Smash-Up Policing: When Law Enforcement Goes Military [Gray]
Nadelmann, Commonsense Drug Policy [Gray]
Reinarman & Levine, Ch. 15, Punitive Prohibition in America
Reinarman & Levine, Ch. 16, The Cultural Contradictions of Punitive Prohibition
Reinarman & Levine, Ch. 17, Reducing the Harms of Drug Use and Drug Policy
Kick, World Leaders on Dope [Gray]
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