The Drug Wars in America, 1940–1973

Examines how and why the US government went from regulating illicit drug traffic and consumption to declaring war on both.

Kathleen J. Frydl (Author)

9781107013902, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 April 2013

458 pages, 9 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.9 cm, 0.74 kg

'In her engaging history of drug policy, Kathleen J. Frydl argues that America's drug wars began in the four decades after World War II, when the federal government 'amassed an arsenal of tools to punish and prohibit illicit drugs'.' David T. Courtwright, Journal of American History

The Drug Wars in America, 1940–1973 argues that the US government has clung to its militant drug war, despite its obvious failures, because effective control of illicit traffic and consumption were never the critical factors motivating its adoption in the first place. Instead, Kathleen J. Frydl shows that the shift from regulating illicit drugs through taxes and tariffs to criminalizing the drug trade developed from, and was marked by, other dilemmas of governance in an age of vastly expanding state power. Most believe the 'drug war' was inaugurated by President Richard Nixon's declaration of a war on drugs in 1971, but in fact his announcement heralded changes that had taken place in the two decades prior. Frydl examines this critical interval of time between regulation and prohibition, demonstrating that the war on drugs advanced certain state agendas, such as policing inner cities or exercising power abroad.

Part I. 1940–60: Preface
Introduction
1. Trade in war
2. Presumptions and pretense: international trade in narcotics
3. 'A society which requires some sort of sedation': domestic drug consumption, circulation, and perception
Part II. 1960–73: 4. Review and reform: the Kennedy commission
5. Police and clinics: enforcement and treatment in the city, 1960–73
6. The cost of denial: Vietnam and the global diversity of the drug trade
Conclusion: war on trade.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], History of the Americas [HBJK]