Editor’s Note: This post by Social History of Alcohol and Drugs Editors Nancy Campbell, David Herzberg, and Lucas Richert kicks off Points’s commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of the War on Drugs. In a White House press conference on June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon declared a War on Drugs. His messageContinue reading “The War on Drugs at 50”
Tag Archives: drug history
Crazy Cows, Flea Detectives, and Protesting Songbirds: Exploring the “Animal Turn” in Cannabis History
Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes from contributing editor Bob Beach. Beach is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Albany, SUNY. The study of non-human animals has become an exciting new direction in history and the broader humanities. In a 2016 issue of Perspectives on History, environmental historian Dan Vandersommers has gone so farContinue reading “Crazy Cows, Flea Detectives, and Protesting Songbirds: Exploring the “Animal Turn” in Cannabis History”
Addiction Lives Interviews: Betsy Thom and Harry Shapiro
Editor’s Note: With this post, Points is pleased to inaugurate a new regular feature highlighting interviews from the “Addiction Lives” interview project, a print and online collaboration between the Society for the Study of Addiction and the journal Addiction. The journal Addiction’s long-running interview series, “Addiction Interviews,” was reintroduced in 2017 as “Addiction Lives,” aContinue reading “Addiction Lives Interviews: Betsy Thom and Harry Shapiro”
Drawing the Peddler: “Reefer Madness” in Four Editorial Cartoons
Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes from contributing editor Bob Beach. Beach is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Albany, SUNY. Everyone loves a good editorial cartoon. They dramatize contemporary issues in newspapers, in magazines, and, increasingly, in online publications. They routinely engage in a visual form of incisive social critique. And they canContinue reading “Drawing the Peddler: “Reefer Madness” in Four Editorial Cartoons”
2021 Summer Kreminar—Opiates & Opioids
Mark your calendars for the 2021 Edward Kremers Seminar in the History of Pharmacy & Drugs. The Summer 2021 “Kreminar” explores the theme of Opiates & Opioids and will feature six virtual seminars, presentations, and discussions by scholars and practitioners researching and writing about the history and the contemporary status of opiates, opioids, and addiction. The SummerContinue reading “2021 Summer Kreminar—Opiates & Opioids”
Make a Nomination for the 2021 George Urdang Medal!
Do you know a scholar, researcher, writer, or author who deserves recognition for a long and distinguished record of scholarship and achievements in the field of the history of pharmacy and pharmaceuticals? Please nominate nominate them for the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy’s 2021 George Urdang Medal! The George Urdang Medal recognizes the lifetimeContinue reading “Make a Nomination for the 2021 George Urdang Medal!”
E talking: MDMA Therapy & the “Psychedelic Renaissance”
Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes from contributing editor Peder Clark. Dr. Clark is a historian of modern Britain, with research interests in drugs, subcultures, health, everyday life, and visual culture. He completed his PhD in 2019 at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and currently holds a position at the University of Liverpool. PopularContinue reading “E talking: MDMA Therapy & the “Psychedelic Renaissance””
A Century of Drug Use – AHA2021 Panel Presentation on 4/20
The annual meeting of the American Historical Association, to be held in Seattle, was called off due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As part of this year’s replacement online virtual AHA2021 conference, four drug historians, including Points Contributing Editor Bob Beach, will be presenting their research about drug users in modern history on Tuesday, April 20,Continue reading “A Century of Drug Use – AHA2021 Panel Presentation on 4/20”
The Instruments of Darkness Tell Us Truths: A History of Heather Edney & The Santa Cruz Needle Exchange
Editor’s Note: Today’s post in honor of Women’s History Month comes from Greg Ellis. Ellis and Heather Edney are currently writing an insider’s account about Edney’s early pioneering needle exchange work in Santa Cruz during the AIDS epidemic prior to the advent of protease inhibitors. Edney’s innovative ideas about harm reduction flourished in a male-dominatedContinue reading “The Instruments of Darkness Tell Us Truths: A History of Heather Edney & The Santa Cruz Needle Exchange”
Zoom Roundtable: The Past, Present, and Future of Drug History
Mark your calendars for the upcoming Zoom Roundtable, “The Past, Present, and Future of Drug History,” on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 from 5:00 PM–7:00 PM Eastern Time. The Roundtable will feature presentations by: Paul Gootenberg, Stony Brook University, “The Globalization of Drug History, 1990–2020”; Miriam Kingsberg Kadia, University of Colorado Boulder, “The Historiography of DrugsContinue reading “Zoom Roundtable: The Past, Present, and Future of Drug History”