Drugs, Race, and Moral Panic

Discussion Questions

  1. How would you describe the tone of Murphy’s writing?
  2. In what ways did ideas of race shape Murhpy’s attitudes toward drug use?
  3. Why does Murphy describe the process of smoking opium in such vivid detail?
  4. What does Prkachin’s “ground level” analysis of the enforcement of Canada’s drug law in northern BC reveal about the policy?
  5. What caused the emergence of a moral panic concerning drug use in rural and northern BC in the early 1920s?
  6. What factors drove the development of Canada’s drug prohibition law?
  7. Why did reformers become more concerned about drug use in the 1920s?
  8. What role did print media play in the development of Canada’s anti-drug policies?
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