Drugs, Politics, and Culture

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Drugs, Politics, and Culture

Spring 2006

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sets seized cocaine ablaze.

Cocaine seized aboard The Macel ship in December 2001 totaled 9,291 kilograms. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration set the cocaine ablaze to ensure the drug never reached the street. (Image courtesy of the Drug Enforcement Administration.)

Course Highlights

This course features exemplary student papers and a detailed description of the assignments. A partial set of lecture notes is also available.

Course Description

This class examines the relationship between a number of mind-altering suboverty, religion, technology, inter-generational conflict, colonialism, and global capitalism. We read about the physiological and psychological effects of these substances -- ranging from astances and cultural processes. We look at the relationship between drugs and such phenomena as plcohol to LSD, cocaine and ecstasy -- and ask why different societies prohibit and sanction different drugs. We examine the use of mind-altering substances in a number of "traditional" societies, and follow the development of a global trade in such substances as sugar, coffee, tea, nicotine, cocaine, and marijuana concurrent with the evolution of global capitalism. We look at the use of LSD as a mind-control substance by the CIA and as a mind-altering substance in the 1960's counter-culture, and we look at the rise of Prozac® and Viagra® as popular, if controversial, pharmaceutical products in recent years. Finally, we evaluate America's current drug laws.

Syllabus

Course Description

This class examines the relationship between a number of mind-altering substances and cultural processes. We look at the relationship between drugs and such phenomena as poverty, religion, technology, inter-generational conflict, colonialism, and global capitalism. We read about the physiological and psychological effects of these substances -- ranging from alcohol to LSD, cocaine and ecstasy -- and ask why different societies prohibit and sanction different drugs. We examine the use of mind-altering substances in a number of "traditional" societies, and follow the development of a global trade in such substances as sugar, coffee, tea, nicotine, cocaine, and marijuana concurrent with the evolution of global capitalism. We look at the use of LSD as a mind-control substance by the CIA and as a mind-altering substance in the 1960's counter-culture, and we look at the rise of Prozac® and Viagra® as popular, if controversial, pharmaceutical products in recent years. Finally, we evaluate America's current drug laws.

Course Requirements

Students are required to write one short paper (6-7 pages) and one longer paper (10 pages). The second paper topic is chosen by the student in consultation with the professor or teaching assistant. There will also be two short quizzes. Class discussion is very important to the success of this course, so it is important to do the reading before class. Attendance at class is expected. There will be no final exam.

Grading

The final grade is calculated as follows:

Grading criteria.
ACTIVITIES	PERCENTAGES
First Paper	20%
Second Paper	30%
First Quiz	15%
Second Quiz	15%
Participation	20%

Calendar

The table below provides information about the course's lecture (L) and quiz (Q) sessions.

Course calendar.
ses #	TOPICS	kEY dATES
L1	Introduction
L2	Some Preliminary Ideas
L3	Alcohol in the U.S. Movie: Reefer Madness
L4	Alcohol Across Cultures Guest Speaker: Alcoholics Anonymous
L5	"Primitive" Drugs Documentary: The Peyote Road
L6	Drugs and American Counterculture Movie: Timothy Leary is Dead
L7	Cocaine, Latin America and Globalization	First paper due
L8	Cocaine Consumption
Q1	Quiz 1
L9	Crack Dealers Guest Speakers
L10	The War on Drugs
L11	The War on Drugs (cont.)
L12	Modern Pharmaceuticals: Sex
Q2	Quiz 2
L13	Modern Pharmaceuticals: Prozac® Documentary: Happy Valley
L14	Big Pharma	Second paper due

Readings

This section contains the readings for the course. Since participation counts as 20% towards a student's grade, students are expected to complete the readings for each session before class.

Books

Weil, Andrew, and Winifred Rosen. From Chocolate to Morphine. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1976. ISBN: 9780618483792.

Myerhoff, Barbara. Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1976. ISBN: 9780801491375.

Bourgois, Philippe. In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780521574600.

Slater, Lauren. Prozac® Diary. New York, NY: Penguin, 1998. ISBN: 9780140263947.

Angell, Marcia. The Truth About the Drug Companies: How they Deceive Us and What to do about it. New York, NY: Random House, 2004. ISBN: 9780375508462.

Readings by Session

The table below provides information about the course's lecture (L) and quiz (Q) sessions.

Course readings.
ses #	TOPICS	READINGS
L1	Introduction
L2	Some Preliminary Ideas	Weil, and Rosen. From Chocolate to Morphine. pp. 9-35 and 161-182. Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants. New York, NY: Vintage, 1993, pp. 15-84 and 167-187. ISBN: 9780679744382. Becker, Howard. "Becoming a Marihuana User." American Journal of Sociology 59 (1953): 235-242. Zailkas, Koren. "First Taste." From Her Smashed: Story of a Drunken Childhood. New York, NY: Viking, 2005, pp. 3-25. ISBN: 9780670033768. Lenson, David. "Preface," and "User Construction." In On Drugs. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Press, 1995, pp. ix-xx and 55-64. ISBN: 9780816627103.
L3	Alcohol in the U.S. Movie: Reefer Madness	Kuhn, Cynthia, Scott Swartzwelder, and Wilkie Wilson. "Alcohol." In Buzzed: The Straight Facts About the Most Used and Abused Drugs From Alcohol to Ecstasy. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1998, pp. 29-54. ISBN: 9780393045888. Lender, Mark, and James Martin. Drinking in America: A History. New York, NY: Free Press, 1987, pp. 41-86, 102-168, and 182-191. ISBN: 9780029185704. Wechsler, Henry. "Health and Behavioral Consequences of Binge Drinking in College." Journal of the American Medical Association 272, no. 21 (1994): 1672-1676. Seaman, Barrett. "The Campus Alcohol Crisis," and "What's the Right Drinking Age?" Chapters 5 and 11 in Binge: What your College Student won't Tell you: Campus Life in an Age of Disconnection and Excess. Hoboken, NJ: Jonathan Wiley, 2005. ISBN: 9780471491194. Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants. New York, NY: Vintage, 1993, pp. 147-166. ISBN: 9780679744382.
L4	Alcohol Across Cultures Guest Speaker: Alcoholics Anonymous	Mandelbaum, David. "Alcohol and Culture." Current Anthropology 6, no. 3 (1965): 281-288. Leacock, Seth. "Ceremonial Drinking in an Afro-Brazilian Cult." American Anthropologist 66, no. 2 (1964): 344-354. Scully, Pamela. "Liquor and Labor in the Western Cape, 1870-1900." In Liquor and Labor in Southern Africa. Edited by Jonathan Crush and Charles Ambler. Athens, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1992, pp. 56-77. ISBN: 9780821410271. Burovoy, Amy. The Too-Good Wife: Alcohol, Codependency, and the Politics of Nurturance in Postwar Japan. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005, pp. 1-15, and 42-66. ISBN: 9780520244528. Spicer, Paul. "Toward a (Dys)functional Anthropology of Drinking: Ambivalence and the American Indian Experience with Alcohol." Medical Anthropology Quarterly 11, no. 3 (1993): 306-323. Erdrich, Louise. "Foreword." In The Broken Cord. Edited by Michael Dorris. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1989, pp. xi-xx. ISBN: 9780060160715.
L5	"Primitive" Drugs Documentary: The Peyote Road	Myerhoff, Barbara. Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1974. Calabrese, Joseph. "The Supreme Court Versus Peyote: Consciousness, Alteration, Cultural Psychiatry and the Dilemma of Contemporary Subcultures." Anthropology of Consciousness 12, no. 2 (2001): 4-19.
L6	Drugs and American Counterculture Movie: Timothy Leary is Dead	Stevens, Jay. Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1988, pp. 136-170 and 291-319. ISBN: 9780060971724. Eisner, Bruce. "Dazed in the Desert at the End of Time." In Tripping: An Anthology of True-Life Psychedelic Adventures. Edited by Charles Hayes. New York, NY: Penguin, 2000, pp. 78-85. ISBN: 9780140195743. Collin, Matthew. "The Chemical Generation." Chapter 8 in Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House. London, UK: Serpent's Tail, 1998, pp. 267-316. ISBN: 9781852426040. Lenson, David. "Acid Metaphysics." In On Drugs. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Press, 1995, pp. 143-158. ISBN: 9780816627103.
L7	Cocaine, Latin America and Globalization	Morales, Edmundo. Cocaine: White Gold Rush in Peru. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1989, pp. 13-24, 67-93, and 121-158. ISBN: 9780816510665. Roldan, Mary. "Columbia: Cocaine and the 'Miracle' of Modernity in Medellin." In Cocaine: Global Histories. Edited by Paul Gootenberg. New York, NY: Routledge Press, 1999, pp. 165-182. ISBN: 9780415220019. Taussig, Michael. My Cocaine Museum. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2004, pp. 13-20. ISBN: 9780226790084.
L8	Cocaine Consumption	Freud, Sigmund. "On Coca." Reprinted in White Lines: Writers on Cocaine. Edited by Stephen Hyde and Geno Zanetti. New York, NY: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002, pp. 26-49. ISBN: 9781560253785. Lenson, David. "Blow Money: Cocaine, Currency and Consumerism." In On Drugs. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Press, 1995, pp.173-178. ISBN: 9780816627103. Bourgois, Philippe. Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996, introduction and chapters 1-2.
Q1	Quiz 1
L9	Crack Dealers Guest Speakers	Finish Bourgois.
L10	The War on Drugs	Office of National Drug Control Policy Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. Swiss Drugs Policy (undated). (skim.) Musto, David F. "Opium, Cocaine and Marijuana in American History." Scientific American (1991): 21-33. Booth, Martin. "The Fantasy Traders." In Opium: A History by Martin Booth. New York, NY: Thomas Dunne Books, 1998, pp. 108-139. ISBN: 9780312186432. Risen, James. "Losing Afghanistan." Chapter 7 in State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. New York, NY: Free Press, 2006, pp. 149-172. ISBN: 9780743270663. Schlosser, Eric. "Reefer Madness." Chapter 1 in Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American black market. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2003, pp. 11-74. ISBN: 9780618334667.
L11	The War on Drugs (cont.)	Bertram, Eve, Morris Blachman, Kenneth Sharpe, and Peter Andreas. "Three Fatal Flaws in the War on Drugs." In Drug War Politics. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996, pp.9-31. ISBN: 9780520203099. Marez, Curtis. "Introduction." In Drug Wars: The Political Economy of Narcotics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2004, pp. 1-31. ISBN: 9780816640591. Shenk, Joshua Wolf. "America's Altered States." Harper's, May 1999, 38-52. Lenson, David. "Pharmaka and Pharmakos," and "Toward a Diversity of Consciousness." In On Drugs. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Press, 1995, pp.7-24 and 189-201. ISBN: 9780816627103.
L12	Modern Pharmaceuticals: Sex	Tone, Andrea. Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2001, chapters 4 (optional), 10, and epilogue, pp. 67-87, 233-260, and 285-292. ISBN: 9780809038176. Loe, Meika. The Rise of Viagra®: How the Little Blue Pill Changed Sex in America. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2004, chapters 1, 4, and 6, pp. 7-28, 95-124, and 167-182. ISBN: 9780814752005. Silverstein, Ken. "Millions for Viagra®, Pennies for the Poor." The Nation, July 19, 1999, 13-19.
Q2	Quiz 2
L13	Modern Pharmaceuticals: Prozac® Documentary: Happy Valley	Kramer, Peter. "The Message in the Capsule." In Listening to Prozac®: A Psychiatrist Explores Antidepressant Drugs and the Remaking of the Self. New York, NY: Viking, 1993. Slater, Lauren. Prozac® Diary.
L14	Big Pharma	Angell, Marcia. The Truth About the Drug Companies.