We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
State efforts to construct a social problem: The 1986 war on drugs in Canada.
- Authors
Jensen, Eric L.; Gerber, Jurg
- Abstract
This article traces the development of the war on drugs in Canada. It is the authors contention that similar political motivations underlie both the Canadian experience and the most recent crusade against illegal drugs and drug users in the United States. In earlier research on the origins of the American war on drugs, the authors proposed a revision of a social constructionist model which relies on the assumption of grass roots popular sentiments as the generating force behind the definition of social conditions as problematic. A cursory review of the political conditions in Canada prior to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's announcement of the drug "epidemic" indicated that his public popularity was in jeopardy. This political climate was somewhat similar to the one in the United States when powerful actors from both political parties competed to be perceived by the public as the major force behind the new war on drugs. Many Canadians viewed the Prime Minister's declaration of a drug epidemic with skepticism. Indeed, few drug researchers supported the notion that a new wave of drug abuse was sweeping across Canada.
- Subjects
UNITED States; CANADA; DRUG control; MULRONEY, Brian, 1939-2024; SOCIAL constructionism; DRUG abuse
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Sociology, 1993, Vol 18, Issue 4, p453
- ISSN
0318-6431
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/3340900