Is There “Hope for Every Addicted American”? The New U.S. War on Drugs
The U.S. has been waging a War on Drugs for the last forty years. But in the mid-2010s, a series of reforms have rejected this militant approach. How did these policies manage to break through a gridlocked Congress? What is the nature of these reforms, and what are their political implications? Usin...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2017-12-01
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| Series: | Social Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/1/3 |
| _version_ | 1830407115532926976 |
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| author | Elizabeth Stone |
| author_facet | Elizabeth Stone |
| author_sort | Elizabeth Stone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The U.S. has been waging a War on Drugs for the last forty years. But in the mid-2010s, a series of reforms have rejected this militant approach. How did these policies manage to break through a gridlocked Congress? What is the nature of these reforms, and what are their political implications? Using critical discourse analysis, I demonstrate that a new policy framework of “addiction recovery” defines the political crises of the opioid epidemic, the failure of the War on Drugs, and mass incarceration in terms of disease, attributing Drug War injustices to prejudice against “addiction,” rather than a constellation of institutional racism, sexism, nativism, and economic exploitation enacted through drug policy. I conclude that characterizing recent reforms as a decisive break with the War on Drugs obscures the ways in which drug policy continues to perpetuate injustice by offering a personal, rather than political, solution in the “hope” of recovery. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T18:23:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-17b148e2c9fb49e3aecd7fd35baf23ae |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0760 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T18:23:44Z |
| publishDate | 2017-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-17b148e2c9fb49e3aecd7fd35baf23ae2022-12-21T19:30:12ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602017-12-0171310.3390/socsci7010003socsci7010003Is There “Hope for Every Addicted American”? The New U.S. War on DrugsElizabeth Stone0The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USAThe U.S. has been waging a War on Drugs for the last forty years. But in the mid-2010s, a series of reforms have rejected this militant approach. How did these policies manage to break through a gridlocked Congress? What is the nature of these reforms, and what are their political implications? Using critical discourse analysis, I demonstrate that a new policy framework of “addiction recovery” defines the political crises of the opioid epidemic, the failure of the War on Drugs, and mass incarceration in terms of disease, attributing Drug War injustices to prejudice against “addiction,” rather than a constellation of institutional racism, sexism, nativism, and economic exploitation enacted through drug policy. I conclude that characterizing recent reforms as a decisive break with the War on Drugs obscures the ways in which drug policy continues to perpetuate injustice by offering a personal, rather than political, solution in the “hope” of recovery.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/1/3critical discourse analysiscritical addiction studiesdrug policydrug addictionaddiction recoveryWar on Drugs |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth Stone Is There “Hope for Every Addicted American”? The New U.S. War on Drugs Social Sciences critical discourse analysis critical addiction studies drug policy drug addiction addiction recovery War on Drugs |
| title | Is There “Hope for Every Addicted American”? The New U.S. War on Drugs |
| title_full | Is There “Hope for Every Addicted American”? The New U.S. War on Drugs |
| title_fullStr | Is There “Hope for Every Addicted American”? The New U.S. War on Drugs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is There “Hope for Every Addicted American”? The New U.S. War on Drugs |
| title_short | Is There “Hope for Every Addicted American”? The New U.S. War on Drugs |
| title_sort | is there hope for every addicted american the new u s war on drugs |
| topic | critical discourse analysis critical addiction studies drug policy drug addiction addiction recovery War on Drugs |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/1/3 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT elizabethstone istherehopeforeveryaddictedamericanthenewuswarondrugs |