This course examines the use of psychoactive drugs in American history, as well as medical, scientific, and policy responses to that use. Drugs we will consider include alcohol, heroin, marijuana, tobacco, and cocaine. We will examine changing theories of addiction, ethnographic studies of drug using groups and the cultural meanings of drug use. We will also consider drugs as commodities in international trafficking. Although the primary focus is on the U.S., we will look at policy approaches to drug use in other countries as well, to put American drug policy in a comparative perspective.
