Social poison : the culture and politics of opiate control in Britain and France, 1821-1926 / Howard Padwa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Padwa, Howard.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Opioid abuse--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Opioid abuse.

Opioid abuse--France--History--19th century.

Opioid abuse--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Opioid abuse--France--History--20th century.

Drug control--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Drug control.

Drug control--France--History--19th century.

Drug control--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Drug control--France--History--20th century.

Opioid-Related Disorders--history.

History.

France.

United Kingdom.

Drug and Narcotic Control--history.

History, 19th Century.

History, 20th Century.

Public Opinion--history.

Great Britain.

Medical Subjects:

Opioid-Related Disorders--history.

France.

United Kingdom.

Drug and Narcotic Control--history.

History, 19th Century.

History, 20th Century.

Public Opinion--history.

Physical Description:

x, 232 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012.

Summary:

Presenting a historical and comparative analysis of divergences in French and British early-20th-century drug policies, Padwa (U. of California at Los Angeles Center for Health Services and Society) argues that the British tended to treat opiate addiction as a medical issue while the French treated it as a penal issue and that this difference had its roots in the ways that the social and political dangers posed by opiate use were framed by medical researchers, writers, and policymakers. For Britain, with its belief in individualism and the free market, opiate use was seen both as a threat to physical health, but also ideological health, because it threatened to breed indolence and laziness and was tainted by a connection to "the Orient" (seen as the antithesis of the British way of life). In France, with its more collectivist ethos, opiate use was seen as violating the civic engagement responsibilities of the loyal republican citizen. His discussion of how drug discourse was translated into drug policy covers the years 1821, the year of the publication of Thomas de Quincey's "Confessions of an English Opium Eater, through 1926, the year the British Ministry of Health's report on opiate addiction established maintenance treatment as an acceptable response to addiction. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

Imagining the meditative nation : constructing the opium experience

Anti-narcotic nationalism : the feared consequences of recreational opiate use

The era of national narcotics control : the drug wars begin

Control and its discontents : the plight of the addicted under opiate control.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [185]-224) and index.

ISBN:

9781421404202

1421404206

OCLC:

727303224