| Containing Addiction: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the Origins of America's Global Drug War Contributor(s): Pembleton, Matthew R. (Author) |
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ISBN: 1625343167 ISBN-13: 9781625343161 Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press OUR PRICE: $36.58 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: December 2017 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - General - Social Science |
| Dewey: 363.284 |
| LCCN: 2017037663 |
| Series: Culture and Politics in the Cold War and Beyond |
| Physical Information: 0.91" H x 6" W x 9" (1.31 lbs) 336 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher 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. |
Contributor Bio(s): Pembleton, Matthew R.: - Matthew R. Pembleton is a writer and historian based in the Washington, DC, region. He teaches at American University. |