Comments on The State of Drug and Alcohol History Pedagogy and Research

Editor’s Note: In this post, David Korostyshevsky comments on The State of Drug and Alcohol History Pedagogy and Research Roundtable Discussion at the Alcohol and Drugs History Society Conference, Mexico City, June 15, 2022.


After more than two long, hard years of global pandemic, it was truly wonderful to assemble once again with colleagues, friends, and fellow scholars at the Alcohol and Drugs History Society’s Conference in Mexico City this past June. As I begin designing a new course on the history of alcohol and drugs, it is with particular interest that I participated in “The State of Drug and Alcohol History Pedagogy and Research” Roundtable discussion. Without giving a point-by-point breakdown of the presentations and discussion, I highlight general themes and salient observations about the conversation. I also include a few comments about my takeaways from the conversation.

Read more

Points Interview: Paul Gootenberg and Cecilia Autrique

At the end of the first day of the biennial Conference of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society (ADHS) Mexico City 2022 we interviewed Dr. Paul Gootenberg, President of ADHS, and Dr. Cecilia Autrique, the local UNAM organizer.  We talked briefly about the importance of doing this conference in Mexico and what it represented to young academics interested in the social aspect of alcohol and drugs, and about the influence that ADHS has had in past years.

Read more

The Interdependency of Narcotics Trafficking and the Global Market System

In the United States, as in any other capitalist market across the global market system, narcotics trafficking, and its expansive capitalist dynamics have become determinant engines of local economic development.  Since the Corsica mafia operations of the early 1900s, narcotics trafficking’s informal capitalist structures have been instrumental in the expansion of urban development, business development, infrastructure development, and the overall modernization of the capitalist world.  Since then, its “illegal” capital has been a key component of the economic development of nations across the world, and today it is the backbone of the globalization of the market.

Read more

Right Wing Psychedelia with Dr. Brian Pace and Dr. Neşe Devenot

Amanda Pratt spoke with Dr. Brian Pace and Dr. Neşe Devenot on July 7, 2022 about an article they recently published in Frontiers in Psychology titled “Right-Wing Psychedelia: Case Studies in Cultural Plasticity and Political Pluripotency.” A contribution to the Pharmaceutical Inequalities series, this audio interview sheds light on an oft-neglected aspect of psychedelic history that is essential to understand when considering the business and culture of psychedelics. The Pharmaceutical Inequalities series is funded by the Holtz Center and the Evjue Foundation.

Read more