Drugs and Crime

Question 1

Recipe for Drug Scares

Answer 1

A Kernel of Truth
Media Magnification
Politico-Moral Entrepreneurs
Professional Interest Groups
Historical Context of Conflict
Linking a Form of Drug Use to a “Dangerous Class”
Scapegoating a Drug for a Wide Array of Public Problems

Question 2

American Exceptionalism

Answer 2

Why are the US particularly vulnerable to drug scares?

Three aspects of American culture:

1. Drug scares provide a “vocabulary of attrition” (individualistic vs. social explanations of problems)
2. Temperance culture (self-control)
3. Mass Consumption Culture

Question 3

Decriminalization in Portugal

Answer 3

Decriminalization- removal of an activity from criminal law. Prohibition remains but sanctions for use no longer criminal

Depenalization- elimination of Custodial penalties