“Don’t Kill My Buzz, Man!” – Explaining the Criminalization of Psychedelic Drugs

Conrad Sproul
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

In the 1950s, psychedelic drugs were the subject of extensive psychiatric research in the United States. By 1960, they had been found to be non-addictive, to have remarkable safety profiles, and to potentially be able to treat a range of psychological conditions. However, in 1968, the possession of psychedelics was criminalized by the US federal government. Consequently, medical research has been stifled, and today the possession and distribution of psychedelics are punished more severely than for more dangerous recreational drugs such as methamphetamine. Most scholars argue that psychedelics were criminalized due to a “moral panic” in the late 1960s. However, this theory overlooks several important aspects of the political process that led to psychedelic criminalization. This essay takes an alternative stance. First, early 20th century temperance advocates instilled an anti-drug moral framework into the American cultural consciousness. Then, in the early 1960s, safety concerns and professional biases led most mainstream psychiatrists to reject the therapeutic use of psychedelics. These factors interacted to cause both a moral panic and severe criminalization, but the moral panic did not itself cause criminalization.
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“别杀了我的巴斯,伙计!”——解释迷幻药的刑事定罪
在20世纪50年代,致幻剂是美国广泛的精神病学研究的主题。到1960年,人们已经发现它们不会上瘾,具有显著的安全性,并且可能能够治疗一系列心理疾病。然而,在1968年,拥有迷幻药被美国联邦政府定为犯罪。因此,医学研究受到了抑制,今天,拥有和分发致幻剂比甲基苯丙胺等更危险的娱乐性药物受到更严厉的惩罚。大多数学者认为,迷幻药被定为犯罪是由于20世纪60年代末的“道德恐慌”。然而,这一理论忽略了导致迷幻药定罪的政治过程的几个重要方面。这篇文章采取了另一种立场。首先,20世纪初,禁酒倡导者将禁毒道德框架灌输到美国文化意识中。然后,在20世纪60年代早期,安全问题和专业偏见导致大多数主流精神病学家拒绝使用致幻剂进行治疗。这些因素相互作用导致道德恐慌和严重的刑事定罪,但道德恐慌本身并没有导致刑事定罪。
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