Poster #118 - Policing Pleasure: Music, Subcultures, and the Shaping of U.S. Drug Policy

• In Event: Poster Session II (posters 80 – 155)

Abstract

This project presents a historical analysis of how substances, music, moral panics, and American drug policy have shaped one another over time. Drug policy in the United States has been shaped not only by rates of use or research-based assessments of harm, but also by public fears about drugs, drug users, and the cultural spaces associated with them. From jazz and cannabis, to psychedelic rock and LSD, to rave culture and MDMA, music-centered subcultures have often been framed as threats to youth, morality, and social order. These associations have helped demonize particular substances and the communities connected to them, creating support for punitive policies that expanded surveillance, policing, and criminalization. By examining media narratives, political rhetoric, and law enforcement practices, this project traces how music spaces and subcultures have repeatedly been connected to drug-related danger. Ultimately, this project argues that the historical demonization of substances and drug users has contributed to policies that have largely failed to reduce harm and, in many cases, have deepened stigma, marginalization, and criminalization.

Author

• Mary Dhondt, Washington State University