Populism and the New American Drug Politics: Fentanyl as Weapon of Mass Destruction

• In Event: Substance Use Research in Times of Social Transformation

Abstract

This paper interrogates the relationship between right-wing populism and shifting drug politics in the United States. Taking as a case example the federal designation of fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction—this article reads this Executive Order through the lens of right-wing populism. Using the tools of cultural sociology and civil sphere theory, the article examines the discursive and ideological utility of such a designation in the context of a broader right-wing populist political project. Implications for domestic and international drug policy are examined.

Author

• Emily B. Campbell, Rhode Island College