Tag Archives: moral panic

Depression Depressants: Why Are We Drinking So Much?

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

Over the last few weeks, the Anglo-Atlantic world has engaged in a slight moral panic regarding drinking. True, our concern is yet to extend to Swine Flu or Killer Africanized Honey Bee levels. You may, in fact, not even know … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Tepperman | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Forgotten Drugs of Abuse I: T’s and Blues

Posted on November 21, 2011 by

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.  It’s about a new drug, a killer, raging through a major American city filling ERs and morgues and leaving a trail of wrecked lives.  Just a year ago heroin was the big … Continue reading →

Posted in David Herzberg | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Meth and Moral Panics, Part Three

Posted on May 27, 2011 by

Meth and Moral Panics, Part One and Part Two led us to the question of whether and how we ought to arbitrate the real in assessing the ‘disproportionate response’ that moral panics require. In this post, we’ll look at efforts … Continue reading →

Posted in Joe Spillane | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

OxyContext: “Hillbilly Heroin” and the Kentucky Crime Scare of the Late 1990s

Posted on May 25, 2011 by

As we continue in our quest to get to the bottom of the current moment’s hysteria about “pill mills,” Points is delighted to have as a guest blogger Kenneth D. Tunnell, talking about the ways in which OxyContin abuse was … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Bloggers | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Meth and Moral Panics, Part Two

Posted on May 16, 2011 by

In my first post on the moral panic concept, I briefly described the short-lived furor over smokable crystal methamphetamine between late 1989 and early 1991.  Phil Jenkins placed the “ice” episode alongside other pharmaceutical scares-of-the-moment in a category he called … Continue reading →

Posted in Joe Spillane | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Getting Relief in Wartime: Opioids, Pain Management, and the War on Drugs

Posted on May 3, 2011 by

In her second guest post for Points, pain relief activist Siobhan Reynolds looks at the ways in which drug war hysteria has warped public and political perceptions of pain management prescribing practices.   On April 20, the FDA, the DEA … Continue reading →

Posted in Guest Bloggers | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Meth and Moral Panics, Part One

Posted on April 27, 2011 by

Today, I’m posting the first in a short series on the concept of “moral panic” and its utility for those of us who write and think about the history of drugs and alcohol. I’ve been promising this series to co-managing … Continue reading →

Posted in Joe Spillane | Tagged , | 3 Comments