Nativism, Cultural Conflict, Drug Control: United States and Latin American Antinarcotics Diplomacy Through 1965 (From Latin American Narcotics Trade and U.S. National Security, P 11-24, 1989, Donald J Mabry, ed. -- See NCJ-127031)

• NCJ Number: 127033
• Author(s): D C Kinder
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Greenwood Publishing Group
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This analysis of United States efforts to control narcotics focuses on efforts within the United States and abroad from the first decades of the 20th century until 1965 and notes that the United States has long blamed "foreigners" for the narcotics epidemic and pursued an unsuccessful diplomatic strategy.

Abstract

The unsuccessful record results largely from the United States lack of attention to the distinct economic, political, and social conditions of Latin America. As a result, the efforts of the United States often appeared to Latin American governments as the intrusion of an aggressive alien society and to the Indians and mestizos living in narcotics-growing areas as continuing encroachments on their longstanding lifestyles. In addition, the strident antidrug campaigns during the first six decades of this century served to aggravate the cultural conflict generated by United States government policies. The drug reformers ignored the causes of addiction within the United States, building on deep nativistic tendencies in the nation's tradition and justifying punitive legislation, including the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914. Through the 1960's, these reformers continued the earlier pattern of linking ethnic and foreign elements with drug trafficking and failed to recognize that the nature of American society was the reason so many Americans began using drugs.