Drugs and Drug Wars

(4 Credits)

In the United States, we spend more than $100 billion annually on illegal drugs—and the government spends more than $50 billion a year to combat their sale and use. This course will examine the production, sale, use, and control of illegal drugs in historical perspective. We will have three objectives: to understand the social construction of drug use and illegality in the United States and other rich countries over time; to uncover the political and economic consequences of drug trafficking where drugs are produced and sold; and to examine the political economy of the so-called “War on Drugs,” both domestically and internationally.