University:
University of Wyoming
Course:
POLS4445 | Drug War Geopolitics in the Americas
Academic year:

2023
Views:

456

Pages:

1
Author:

Allison B.

A recurring theme throughout this week’s lecture, the Pearson/Mathewson (2020) reading, and the Mathewson (2004) readings was the definition of what exactly a “drug” is and how the term differs within different fields of policy and academia. The definition that I consider being the most widely applied, and accurate, is a culminating statement that a “drug” is any substance, natural or engineered, that changes how the body or mind functions substantially. I think that a “drug” following this definition includes substances like cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamines, alcohol, and other compounds such as these that create a strong, substantive change. Substances like ibuprofen, coffee, and chocolate by this definition are not exactly “drugs” like the others, although I realize this logic is flawed and even a substance like melatonin taken in high quantities could fit my definition of a “drug”, or pharmaceuticals (even when benefitting an individual) could fit into the definition as well. The term “drug” does not have a clean definition as we found in the readings this week and is a “... flexible and contextual” (Mathewson, 2004, pg.16) term. Additionally, there are other ways to classify drugs with sorting taking place between differences like natural/refined and illicit and synthetic. Williams/Massaro (2013) and Hyndman (2009) turned focus to critical geopolitics and feminist geopolitics. Both ways to examine geography’s relation to international relations and policy, both have a prominent role in how/why drug trafficking and manufacturing occurs. An excerpt that stood out to me in Williams/Massaro is how feminist geopolitics is becoming increasingly intersectional, moving past women/gender as the primary focus of research and turning to “... the reproduction of global power and how such forces make up and reinforce socially produced and embodied differences (e.g., gender, race, class, and sexuality)” (Williams/Massaro pg.754). When examining the production and flow of drugs in the Americas, viewing policy and the social situations with this framework adds a dimension previously lacking in research and analysis.