Innocent Addicts, Dope Fiends and Nefarious Traffickers: Illegal Drug Use in 1920s English Canada.

Abstract

Canada’s first widespread moral panic about drug use occurred in the 1920s. This paper argues that a new language of drug use was constructed to create this panic and shows how the “narratives of narcoticism” were influenced by gender, race and class. It concludes that these imaginary tales had a significant impact on drug legislation and on the lives of drug users.