The Politics of Drugs: an Inquiry in the Sociology of Social Problems

Abstract

While a great deal of sociological attention has been given to phenomena identified as social problems, a general theory of social problems has yet to be presented. The describing and categorizing of social problems has dominated such inquiry, with little attention given to the process of problem creation and maintenance within the context of power, interests, and politics. We must look to the arena of political, social, and economic power, and identify those varying interests vying to define certain phenomena as problematic and those attempting to counter such recognition.

The emergence of the “drug problem” in the early twentieth century provides an excellent example of the political nature of problem identification and definition. Early entrepreneurs and their organizations brought about the institutionalization of the problem through the passage of drug laws. While medical interests were victorious in protecting their practice in the Harrison Act of 1914, subsequent efforts by enforcement agencies, among others, brought about the criminalization of the user. The criminalization of the “drug problem” was aided by a change in the image of the user.