Writing Homework Help

Reading Questions:

1. Courtwright examines five main objections that reformers and politicians raised to support the suppression of nonmedical drug use. Based on what we have read so far in this class, which of these do you think was the most important historically and why? Which do you think are the most important justifications for drug laws today?

2. How well do the views expressed in Harry Anslinger’s”War against the Murderers” (a primary source from 1961) fit the five objections to nonmedical drug use outlined by Courtwright? Who are the main victims and perpetrators of drug-related crime, according to Anslinger? Based on Anslinger’s account and on previous readings from this class, how did concerns about the drug trade change between the 1890s and 1961?

3. In what sense did societies make an “about-face” with respect to drugs at the turn of the twentieth century? How did the history of opiates and cocaine, as discussed in the readings from the last two weeks, set the stage for this about-face turn.

4. According to Courtwright, how did industrialization increase the likelihood and visibility of “drug abuse”? Why does Courtwright see drugs and drug restrictions as a contradiction of capitalism? In what ways might the various proposals for international drug control in 1909-1912 (discussed in Walker, Ch. 7) have worked to maintain or resolve this contradiction?