1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910813955103321

Autore

Frydl Kathleen

Titolo

The drug wars in America, 1940-1973 / / Kathleen J. Frydl [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2013

ISBN

1-107-06494-5

1-316-09065-5

1-107-05653-5

1-107-25541-4

1-107-05765-5

1-107-05890-2

1-107-05546-6

1-139-01282-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (x, 447 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

363.450973/0904

Soggetti

Drug abuse - Government policy - United States

Drug abuse - United States

Drug control - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Trade in war -- Presumptions and pretense : the U.S. response to the international trade in narcotics, 1945-1960 -- "A society which requires some sort of sedation" : domestic drug consumption, circulation, and perception -- Review and reform : the Kennedy Commission -- Police and clinics : enforcement and treatment in the city, 1960-1973 -- The cost of denial : Vietnam and the global diversity of the drug trade.

Sommario/riassunto

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.