From Mr. Sin to Mr. Big: A History of Australian Drug LawsIn this compelling legal and social history of the origins and development of drug laws in Australia, Desmond Manderson traces, in a lively and irreverent style, the gradual politicization of the drug law debate. He argues that the selective enactment of drug laws has been driven by fear, racism, powerful international pressures, and the vested interests of the medical profession, bureaucrats, and politicians, rather than by genuine concerns about the welfare of users. Behind the controversy that surrounds illegal drug use lie previously unexamined assumptions about how and why certain substances, such as opium, heroin, and cannibis, have been prohibited, while others, namely tobacco and alcohol, have not. Manderson boldly challenges these assumptions, while evaluating the power and efficacy of law as a means of achieving social change. |
Contents
A TENTACLE OF THE OCTOPUS | 15 |
THE CRUSADES | 37 |
BAD HABITS | 59 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Aboriginal administration Amendment Act AONSW Australian Capital Territory Bill Bulletin bureaucratic Canberra cannabis chemists Chinese cocaine Colonial Committee Commonwealth Department Comptroller-General Controlled Substances Act criminal Cwlth dangerous drugs debate Department of Customs Department of Health doctors Don Chipp drug control drug laws drug policy drug problem drug trafficking drug users Drugs Act drugs of addiction Drugs of Dependence enacted evil fear heroin ibid illegal drugs important imprisonment Labor Party law enforcement League of Nations manufacture marijuana medical prescription medical profession Melbourne morphine Narcotic Narcotic Drugs non-medical NSWPD Offences Amendment Drugs opiates opium smoking parliament Parliamentary patent medicines pethidine pharmacists Pharmacy Board Police Offences Amendment political possession Premier prescription prohibited drugs prohibition Queensland Quong Tart reform Regulations Report Royal Commission schedule Secretary Special Bundle Session Single Convention social South Australia South Wales Sydney tion United Victoria VPRS