Aims
– To outline the key philosophical, social and legal theories which are integral to the debate about the legalisation of drugs.
– To consider some of the most salient and persuasive cases for the legalisation of drugs, including:
o Medicinal cannabis use
o Spiritual or religious drug use
– To make recommendations for changes to the extant legal and social policies with regard to certain types of illegal drug use.
“In our societies, the systems of punishment are to be situated in a certain ‘political economy’ of the body […] it is always the body that is at issue – the body and its forces, their utility and docility, their distribution and their submission.” (Foucault)
The War on Drugs
Key Thinkers
– John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
– Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish