
Containing Addiction
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the Origins of America's Global Drug War
Matthew R. Pembleton(Author)
University of Massachusetts Press
Published on 15. December 2017
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-62534-315-4 (ISBN)
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Description
The story of America's ""War on Drugs"" usually begins with Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan. In Containing Addiction, Matthew R. Pembleton argues that its origins instead lie in the years following World War II, when the Federal Bureau of Narcotics - the country's first drug control agency, established in 1930 - began to depict drug control as a paramilitary conflict and sent agents abroad to disrupt the flow of drugs to American shores.
U.S. policymakers had long viewed addiction and organized crime as profound domestic and trans-national threats. Yet World War II presented new opportunities to implement drug control on a global scale. Skeptical of public health efforts to address demand, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics believed that reducing the global supply of drugs was the only way to contain the spread of addiction. In effect, America applied a foreign policy solution to a domestic social crisis, demonstrating how consistently policymakers have assumed that security at home can only be achieved through hegemony abroad. The result is a drug war that persists into the present day.
U.S. policymakers had long viewed addiction and organized crime as profound domestic and trans-national threats. Yet World War II presented new opportunities to implement drug control on a global scale. Skeptical of public health efforts to address demand, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics believed that reducing the global supply of drugs was the only way to contain the spread of addiction. In effect, America applied a foreign policy solution to a domestic social crisis, demonstrating how consistently policymakers have assumed that security at home can only be achieved through hegemony abroad. The result is a drug war that persists into the present day.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Massachusetts
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
720 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-62534-315-4 (9781625343154)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Matthew R. Pembleton is an author and historian based outside of Washington, DC.