The History of U.S. Drug Policy

drugs

Join us in welcoming esteemed historians David Courtwright and William Rorabaugh for a discussion on "The History of U.S. Drug Policy," part of the Political Thought and Leadership Dialogue Series. Designed to introduce students and members of the community to local and national leaders from a variety of fields, the series provides lively presentations and opportunities for discussion about a range of topics.

Courtwright will survey the major stages and controversies of American drug policy from the early twentieth century to the present and discuss possible future directions for policy as the Drug War winds down. Rorabaugh will present a survey of recent literature on Prohibition and conclusions from his own recent research on the topic.

David Courtwright earned his doctorate in history at Rice University. He is currently Presidential Professor at the University of North Florida. He has authored three books on drug use and drug policy; two books on the problems of frontier environments (many of which involve men who drank too much); and one book on the history of the culture war. Among his drug histories are "Dark Paradise, Addicts Who Survived", and "Forces of Habit". In 2016-2017 he will be completing a global history of pleasure, vice, and capitalism under the auspices of an NEH Public Scholar Grant.

William Rorabaugh received his doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1976. He has taught US History at the University of Washington in Seattle since 1976 and is the author of six books, including "The Alcoholic Republic" (1979), "Berkeley at War: The 1960s" (1989), and "American Hippies" (Cambridge, 2015). He is now working on a new short history of Prohibition.

Roxane Barwick
Center for Political Thought and Leadership
4807275436
Roxane.Barwick@asu.edu
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Coor Hall room 4403