When Good Drugs Go Bad

Download or read book When Good Drugs Go Bad written by Dan Malleck and published by University of British Columbia Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Throughout the 1800s, opium and cocaine could be easily obtained to treat a range of ailments in Canada. Dependency, when it occurred, was considered a matter of personal vice. Near the end of the century, attitudes shifted and access to drugs became more restricted. How did this happen? In this intoxicating history, Dan Malleck examines the conditions that lead to Canada's current drug laws. Drawing on newspaper accounts, medical and pharmacy journals, professional association records, asylum records, physician case books, and pharmacy records, Malleck demonstrates how a number of social, economic, and cultural forces converged in the early 1900s to influence lawmakers and criminalize addiction. His research exposes how social concerns about drug addiction had less to do with the long pipe and shadowy den than with lobbying by medical professionals, concern about the morality and future of the nation, and a growing pharmaceutical industry."--