Rethinking Drug Laws Theory, History, Politics

Drugs are pervasive in our everyday lives across cultures around the world. At the same time, they present one of the thorniest problems of twenty-first century policy, connected with concerns about crime, security, and public health. The global prohibition system, established a century ago, is widely seen to be failing and over the last decade alternative approaches have started to proliferate in some regions of the world, notably the Americas. Rethinking Drug Laws presents a radical intellectual reappraisal of how the international drug control system works, where it came from, and the possibilities for alternative futures.
Drawing on an innovative interdisciplinary approach, the book develops new theoretical and conceptual tools for understanding how drug control functions, presents original archival research on the origins of drug prohibition, and explains ways that we can develop a better 'politics of drugs' that can reanimate drug law reform. Central to the book is the claim that to move beyond existing ways of seeing the global drug problem, we need to escape Western-centric thinking. In the Asian Century, will it be China that becomes the most significant player in shaping the future of drug policy and drug control?

Toby Seddon, Professor of Social Science, University College London

Toby Seddon is Professor of Social Science at University College London and is currently Head of the UCL Social Research Institute. He has previously held academic positions at the University of Manchester and University of Leeds. He has been researching, teaching, and writing on drug policy and criminal justice for nearly 30 years. Before becoming an academic, he was involved in research and policy work in the NGO sector, focused on addiction, mental health, and homelessness.

1. Introduction: The 'drug question'
Part I: Theory
2. Exchangespace
3. Time and Exchangespace
Part II: History
4. China and the Opium Wars
5. The Birth of Prohibition
Part III: Politics
6. The Politics of Drug Control
7. Democratic Politics and Drug Law Reform
8. Conclusion: Rethinking reform