Inventing Drugs: A Genealogy of a Regulatory Concept

The trade in, and consumption of, illicit drugs is perhaps the archetypal ‘wicked problem’ of our time – complex, globalized, and seemingly intractable – and presents us with one of the very hardest legal and policy challenges of the twenty‐first century. The central concept of a ‘drug’ remains under‐theorized and largely neglected by critical socio‐legal and criminological scholars. Drawing on a range of primary archival material and secondary sources, this article sets out a genealogy of the concept, assembled a little over a century ago out of diverse lines of development. It is argued that the drug label is an invented legal‐regulatory construct closely bound up with the global drug prohibition system. Many contemporary features of the ‘war on drugs’ bear traces of this genealogy, notably how drug law enforcement often contributes to racial and social injustice. To move beyond prohibition, radical law and policy reform may require us to abandon the drug concept entirely.     

Drugs in hair: a new extraction procedure

An enzymatic hydrolysis of hair for drug detection is described. The results obtained with the suggested method are compared with those observed by chemical hydrolysis. Enzymatic digestion provides a high recovery (80%) for cocaine metabolite, while alkaline hydrolysis causes its chemical destruction. The two hydrolytic procedures yielded comparable results for morphine. The outlined procedure is recommended when unstable compounds are to be detected in hair.     

Drugs and driving: a systematic analytical approach

To collect useful epidemiological data about drug involvement in highway safety, it is essential that sensitive and specific analytical procedures be used to establish the presence of and to determine the concentrations of drugs and metabolites in samples collected from drivers. This paper describes a comprehensive and systematic screening procedure requiring 6 mL of blood, which has been used for the analysis of samples collected from injured and fatally injured drivers. The procedure uses radioimmunoassay, gas chromatography with selective detectors, and high performance liquid chromatography. Drugs and metabolites presumptively identified are then confirmed primarily using gas chromatography--chemical ionization mass spectrometry.     

DETECHIP®: A Sensor for Drugs of Abuse*

Abstract: The design and preliminary characterization of a novel sensor for drugs of abuse, DETECHIP^®, is described in this proof‐of‐concept note. Combining both colorimetric and fluorimetric assays, DETECHIP^® is suitable for lab and field use. More than a conventional spot test which provides a single “yes or no” answer, DETECHIP^® provides twenty responses for a more complete characterization of suspect material. This is accomplished by visually noting colorimetric and fluorescent changes of carefully selected dyes upon the addition of test analytes, including drugs of abuse, with respect to controls. Color and fluorescence changes are recorded numerically so that a 20 digit identification code can be constructed for comparison of test analytes and known compounds. DETECHIP^® is applicable to a variety of drugs, both plant‐derived and synthetic, addressing the need to use several different spot tests simultaneously for a single sample.     

Drugs in postmortem adipose tissues: evidence of antemortem deposition

INTRODUCTION: Drug concentration measured in postmortem adipose tissue may or may not reflect antemortem concentration. To examine the possibility of whether the presence of basic drugs in adipose tissue is the result of postmortem change, we examined: tissues with and without livor mortis, concentration gradients within the adipose layer, and the stability of drug concentrations during the postmortem period. CASE REPORTS: Five drug-related deaths with case histories and analytical data are presented. Adipose tissues with and without livor mortis from the thigh area of the same decedent were analyzed for cocaine. The cocaine concentration of the tissue exhibiting 4+ livor was equivalent to the concentration observed in tissue without livor. Analyses of cross sections of adipose tissues containing cocaine and methamphetamine disclosed that drug concentrations were equally distributed throughout the layer, from just beneath the dermis to directly above the muscle. When morphine and temazepam concentrations were measured in adipose tissues collected from similar sites, but at different times, from the same cadaver, they remained essentially the same over 3 days (approximately 80 h). CONCLUSIONS: Since concentrations were the same in areas with and without livor mortis, the possibility of redistribution into adipose from blood or vascular channels is eliminated. The absence of a concentration gradient within the adipose layer rules out diffusion or permeation from muscle into the adipose layer, and the failure of morphine or temazepam concentration to change over time indicates that drugs in the adipose tissue are stable during the postmortem interval. Our findings support the notion that drugs identified in postmortem adipose tissue are there because of antemortem deposition and not because of any postmortem change or event.     

Drugs in prehistory: chemical analysis of ancient human hair

Concern about drug abuse in modern populations has led to the development of specific methods for identification of cocaine, opiates and cannabis in human hair. Drug use in prehistory can provide indirect evidence of interpopulational contact and social stratification. This paper reports drug evaluation in nineteen ancient hair samples from archaeological sites in northern Chile. Each sample was tested for the presence of traces of cocaine, opiates and cannabis, in order to establish a standard methodology for studies of drug use among prehistoric groups. Although results are negative, this absence of evidence could be due to two main causes: (1) the individuals evaluated did not use any drugs, which does not mean that other members of their cultural group did, or (2) the wide range of known drugs studied did not consider some group specific drugs, derived from local or imported plants, thus meaning that a greater drug range must be tested. In any case, our study confirms that drug testing in prehistoric samples is viable. However, in order to determine what kind of substances were used in prehistoric times new patterns that incorporate all drugs which are not part of the western pharmacopeia must be created. Finally, a methodology for the study of drug use among prehistoric groups using ancient hair samples is described.     

Parents and Drugs

This article examines three hypotheses about the relationship between attachment to parents and children's drug use when parents are perceived by their children as having used drugs. Hirschi's hypothesis that attachment to parents inhibits delinquency regardless of parental behavior is rejected in favor of hypotheses that predict variation in that relationship. In contrast to attachment to straight parents, attachment to drug-using parents does not inhibit drug use significantly and there are occasional hints at reversals in the relationships.     

成就与问题:毒品犯罪研究学术史述评

新中国毒品犯罪的学术研究,始自20世纪80年代中期,成果丰硕。毒品犯罪研究具有明显的应世性、阶段性、地域性特征。主要研究范式为毒品犯罪的注释性研究、犯罪学研究、诉讼法学研究、刑事一体化研究等。多种研究范式、多学科视角的运用推进了毒品犯罪研究领域的广度与深度。但这些研究范式也存在着僵化、简单化、不协调、不均衡等问题,而且毒品犯罪的刑事政策、社会政策研究的空白亟待填补。     

我国制药业的专利困境与战略应对——以药品仿制与药品专利的平衡为基点

引言 2005年下半年,两起跨国知识产权纠纷给国内制药行业带来巨大震动.先是10月上旬在巴黎举办的世界制药原料展览会上,全球第三大制药公司赛诺菲·安万特集团指控中国3家参展企业展览、交易的减肥药侵犯其专利权,6名涉案的中国医药代表被扣押并被提起可能涉及刑事犯罪的诉讼,最后被撤换为以普通商业侵权案起诉;而几天后的10月20日,赛诺菲·安万特诉江苏恒瑞制药抗肿瘤药物"艾素"专利侵权,一审法院认定,江苏恒瑞侵犯了赛诺菲·安万特研发药品"泰索帝"的两项发明专利.     

Drugs Prices and Systemic Violence: An Empirical Study

This study proposes an empirical analysis of the relation between the prices of illegal drugs and the use of violence to administrate the markets of illegal drugs. The study hypothesizes that the prices of illegal drugs affect the level of violent crime, since changes in profitability of the drugs’ markets affect the offenders’ expected utility of using violence to operate in these markets. An increase (or decrease) in prices would raise (or reduce) the offenders’ expected utility of making use of violence, for instance, to solve disputes over drugs, to conquer more market shares, to defend ones own market share, in short to make use of systemic violence (Goldstein, P.J. Journal of Drug Issues, 39:143–179, 1985). The study will analyze the relation between the dynamics of cocaine and heroin’s prices and systemic violence in the United States of America and in Europe over two decades. The correlational and inferential analyses do support the hypothesis for certain offenders’ profiles and certain murders’ circumstances.

War on Black Men: Arguments for the Legalization of Drugs

Abstract

The leadership of the black community is concerned with welfare, with equality, with unemployment, with discrimination, with racism, with the pay gap, and with dozens of other such traditional issues. Oh, yes, they are also apprehensive about the use of addictive drugs. But, as we speak, young male members of this community are being incarcerated at frightful rates, and, even worse, are killing each other to boot. One would think that this latter issue would occupy the interest of black leaders front and center. After all, there are few worse problems than being jailed or killed. The present paper is dedicated to making the case that the black leadership has its priorities all wrong; that if they were to exercise true leadership, they would see the jailing and murder of young black men as perhaps the greatest threat to their community; and, if so, they would fervently support the legalization of all drugs.