Overview

Drugs take strange journeys from the black market to the doctor's black bag. Changing marijuana laws in the United States and Canada, the opioid crisis, and the rising costs of pharmaceuticals have sharpened the public's awareness of drugs and their regulation. Government, industry, and the medical profession, however, have a mixed record when it comes to framing policies and generating knowledge to address drug use and misuse. In Strange Trips Lucas Richert investigates the myths, meanings, and boundaries of recreational drugs, palliative care drugs, and pharmaceuticals as well as struggles over product innovation, consumer protection, and freedom of choice in the medical marketplace. Scrutinizing how we have conceptualized and regulated drugs amid the pressing and competing interests of state regulatory bodies, pharmaceutical and for-profit companies, scientific researchers, and medical professionals, Richert asks how perceptions of a product shift – from dangerous substance to medical breakthrough, or vice versa. Through close examination of archival materials, accounts, and records, he brings substances into conversation with each other and demonstrates the contentious relationship between scientific knowledge, cultural assumptions, and social concerns. Weaving together stories of consumer resistance and government control, Strange Trips offers timely recommendations for the future of drug regulation.

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Thoughtfully organized and carefully researched, Strange Trips uniquely weaves typically disparate subjects of study into a singular detailed historical account of control and resistance. Neil Boyd, Simon Fraser University

Lucas Richert provides a fascinating, engagingly written, and broadly scoped introduction into the complex history of a number of drugs as well as several key themes in the history of modern drug regulation. Its rich themes will provide significant interest to scholars working in a wide variety drug, regulatory, and medical consumer related areas. Bulletin of the History of Medicine Richert chronicles the reemergence of LSD, how Canadian prescription drugs - long a low-cost alternative for Americans - were vilified as part of the American War on Terror, and how the American obsession with dieting has allowed dangerous drugs to enter the marketplace. Strange Trips suggests that drug regulation is more about culture than about product safety. Recommended. All readers. Choice Thoughtfully organized and carefully researched, Strange Trips uniquely weaves typically disparate subjects of study into a singular detailed historical account of control and resistance. Neil Boyd, Simon Fraser University

""Thoughtfully organized and carefully researched, Strange Trips uniquely weaves typically disparate subjects of study into a singular detailed historical account of control and resistance."" Neil Boyd, Simon Fraser University ""Richert chronicles the reemergence of LSD, how Canadian prescription drugs – long a low-cost alternative for Americans – were vilified as part of the American ""War on Terror,"" and how the American obsession with dieting has allowed dangerous drugs to enter the marketplace. Strange Trips suggests that drug regulation is more about culture than about product safety. Recommended. All readers."" Choice ""Lucas Richert provides a fascinating, engagingly written, and broadly scoped introduction into the complex history of a number of drugs as well as several key themes in the history of modern drug regulation. Its rich themes will provide significant interest to scholars working in a wide variety drug, regulatory, and medical consumer related areas."" Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Author Information

Lucas Richert is the George Urdang Chair in the History of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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