CLJ 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, Lewis F. Powell Jr., Opium Den
9 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Drugs are symbolic resources in our ongoing cultural-political wars. Functional a la durkheim: drugs problems or scares or hysteria or whatever you want to call it have been with u. s. society for 200 years or so. They are moral panics in their own right whatever the objective level of the problem. 1986 drug abuse act: 1986 drug abuse act. This keeps us from considering the structural barriers to racial equality created by drug wars etc: just a bit of data, past 30 yrs prison pop increased 6x! 2. 4 million (drug imprisonment increased 1100%); in some states. Need to generate ad sales: political and moral entrepreneurs (me). Political elites define a problem, call attention to it and mandate that something must be done about it. Drugs work as functional demons that take our attention away from serious problems like the economy etc. Almost a risk free strategy for politicians and me: professional interests.
