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ABSTRACT
CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN DRUG POLICIES A POST–STRUCTURALIST PROPOSAL This paper suggests that the contemporary drugs policy research can be enhanced by applying some of the ideas and concepts related to the post-Structuralist approach, especially the proposals made by the French philosopher Michel Foucault. Foucault was interested in the processes by which a practice or behavior can become a ‘problem’ in a certain historical period. Extrapolating these ideas, it is possible to question the origin and emergence of regulations and norms aiming to prohibit illicit drug use. Here, drugs use is considered as a deviant practice, considered as a moral threat or even as a health hazard in society. In this context, drugs policy encompasses all these regulations and practices aiming to control, eliminate or prohibit this practice. By using some of the ideas developed by Foucault, it is possible to respond to many of the current questions in contemporary drugs policy research. In particular, this paper is based on an extensive research on cannabis policies in the United Kingdom and Europe. Hence, this paper contributes in developing an epistemology for researching drugs policy, using Foucault’s ideas, which can be applied in different countries
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References
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