HIST 2423 - [Dazed and Confused: The Politics of Drug and Alcohol in US History]

(crosslisted) AMST 2423
(HA-AS, HST-AS)

Spring. Not offered: 2023-2024. Next offered: 2024-2025. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

J. Kohler-Hausmann.

How did some intoxicating substances come to be illegal, while others are socially accepted? What is the role and responsibility of the state in managing the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol? This seminar examines the history of the nation’s efforts to control and regulate intoxicants, with special attention given to why specific substances are criminalized and decriminalized at various points in history. It will focus on the relationship between social, economic, and political upheaval and campaigns to crack down on drugs. The course also investigates the growing trend to approach some drug and alcohol abuse as a medical problem and the rise of self-help societies and substance abuse rehabilitation. For example, we will examine state responses to opium use by middle class white women and Chinese immigrants during the 19th century, the passage and repeal of Prohibition, and the contemporary “War on Drugs.” (HNA)