SOC 1500 Lecture Notes - Prohibitionism, Brian Mulroney, Harm Reduction

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1500
• Professor: Alexander Shvarts

Document Summary

Repression, 1986-1992: decrease in drug use in canada and the united states in the 1980s, but policies became more punitive by the mid-1980s: in 1986, u. s. president. Ronald reagan declared a new crusade on drugs, canadian prime minister. Brian mulroney followed suit > if drug use decreased, should have made less restrictive laws. Opposite occurred: a number of factors encouraged the renewal of prohibitionism and repressive strategies: following the more liberal 1960s and 1970s, conservative governments in the united states, britain, and canada and the. American media portrayed cocaine as a highly dangerous and addictive drug. Drug panic over cocaine imported from the united states and helped to justify further repression, even though evidence showed a decline in cocaine use. U. s. drug policy failed strategy: 35 billion dollars each year, locks up a disproportionate number of young blacks and hispanics, corrupts local police, has not reduced drug use.