Whittemore Library: Criminology Resource Guide: Drugs, Society, & The Law

Welcome!

"We have now spent 1 trillion dollars waging the drug war since it began. A trillion. Those funds could have been used for education, jobs and drug treatment in the communities that needed it most. We could have used those funds for our collective well being, instead those dollars paved the way for the destruction of countless lives, families, and dreams."

- Michelle Alexander

Selected Books about Drugs, Society, & The Law

The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line

The Long War on Drugs

Drugs and drug policy in America : a documentary history. 2000.

Black Silent Majority: the Rockefeller drug laws and the politics of punishment.

High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users

Drug War Pathologies: Embedded Corporatism and U.S. Drug Enforcement in the Americas

Strange Trips: Science, Culture, and the Regulation of Drugs

Chemical Youth: Navigating Uncertainty in Search of the Good Life

Theories and Biological Basis of Addiction

An Ohio State University OER Textbook

Selected Online Resources

Theories of Substance Use / Addiction (OER Book Chapter)
From: 'Drugs, Health, Addictions & Behaviour – 1st Canadian Edition'
Conflicting theories on addiction aetiology and the strengths and limitations of substance use disorder disease modelling (Review Article)
"A lack of cross-disciplinary unanimity prevails within addiction research. Theories conceptualizing addiction through the three-stage brain disease model contest other theories that substance use disorder is of behavioural or genetic origin."
The Science of Addiction: Theories, Types and Therapies (Review Article)
This site publishes high-quality, university-level research papers produced by 12-18 year olds under the supervision of an expert academic or researcher in their chosen field of study.
For the media, an urgent call to improve coverage of addiction and recovery (Blog Post)
From the University of Wisconsin's Center for Journalism Ethics.
Reporting on Addiction
"...a collaboration of addiction science experts, professional journalists and journalism educators who want to improve the way we’re Reporting on Addiction."
TV Tropes: All Entries about 'Drugs'
If you've never visited TV Tropes... suffice it to say that it's a crowd-sourced collection of descriptions of the various narrative 'tropes' seen frequently throughout our popular culture (especially TV, but if course not exclusive to just that medium). Definitely offers insight into our cultural zeitgeist...and the drug-related subtopics to be found there are no exception.
Pew Research Center - Drug Policy
BTW - Pew makes datasets available for secondary analysis.