Prof. David Farber, 'The War on Drugs'

About this episode

David Farber discusses the political dynamics and legislative processes behind the war on drugs in the United States.

“What makes one drug or another useful to politicians?” David Farber asks. At the seminar, Farber presented new work on the late twentieth-century “war on drugs” in the United States—what it was, how it functioned, and whether it has proven politically durable. Focusing on the legislative process, he examines the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act and its disproportionate criminalisation of crack cocaine, asking how and why the federal government came to wage such a “war.” In this conversation, Farber sets out the questions that underpin his current research inquiry, focusing on three interlocking dynamics: The degree to which Black politicians, particularly at the federal level, supported the war on drugs in response to the acute impact of drug abuse in poor Black communities The electoral incentives driving policymakers to adopt punitive approaches, as voters demanded visible action against what was perceived as a widespread crisis The legislative process itself: how Congress attempted—or failed—to govern the issue, culminating in measures such as the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act David Farber is a historian of modern US history, democracy, political culture, the role of business in American…

People in this episode

Guest: David Farber

Topics covered

• war on drugs
• political culture
• legislative process
• drug policy
• Black politicians
• electoral incentives

Keywords

• war on drugs
• drug abuse
• legislation
• politics
• crack cocaine
• electoral incentives
• Black communities

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Kansas, Selwyn College, Cambridge

Books & works: 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act

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