Module Identifier IP32620  
Module Title ALTERED STATES: DRUGS TRADE AND GLOBAL SOCIAL CHANGE  
Academic Year 2001/2002  
Co-ordinator Dr Stephen Hobden  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Course delivery Lecture   16 Hours 16 x 1 hour  
  Seminars / Tutorials   8 Hours 8 x 1 hour  
Assessment Seminar presentation   Seminar Performance   10%  
  Group presentation   1 x written up group presentation   20%  
  Essay   1 x 3-4,000 word essay   70%  

Objectives


By the end of the module you will be able to:

Aims


The aim of the module is not to provide a policy prescription for the 'drug war' nor to argue for any particular policy option. Rather, its intention is, through a world historical consideration of the trade, to contribute towards the provision of a foundation for a rational debate of the issues.

Brief description


The trade in psychotrophic (mind altering) drugs is inherently an issue of international relations. The study of the traffic raises questions of trade, north-south relations, international organisation and national development.


This module takes a multi-disciplinary approach to place current concern about the trade in drugs into a global historical perspective. It will address a number of key issues: why was there considerable success at controlling the 'drug problem' throughout much of the early part of the twentieth century? Why did a mass market for drugs emerge during the 1960s? What are the implications of globalisation for the drug trade? To what extent have states encouraged the drug trade when it has suited their wider geo-political interests? What differences are there between the various drug producing areas of the world? What are the costs to user and producer societies of adopting a 'war against drugs'? What alternative policies could be used to minimise the 'drug problem'?