Pubdate: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 Source: Link, The (CN QU Edu) Copyright: 2004 The Link Contact: http://thelink.concordia.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2694 Author: Jessica Klein DOPE READING Two New Perspectives On Drug Culture Drugs are a part of both mainstream and underground culture, have been used for everything from relaxation to medicine and have created their own lifestyles. This drug culture is explored in two recent books, Patrick Matthews' Cannabis Culture and Marek Kohn's Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground. Initially, drug culture was forced into the underground because the substances were illegal. Recently, though, marijuana has started to lose its status as an illicit drug and is starting to be comparable with other legal substances like caffeine and alcohol. In making the transition from underground to mainstream, as Matthews notes, cannabis has lost much of its culture. No longer can you tell a marijuana smoker by their physical appearance, rhetoric or state of mind. Instead of a culture, Matthews offers the idea of a contemporary cannabis 'connoisseurship' that he defines as "a set of expectations, a way of talking about the experience, the rituals of sharing joints, and an idea of how stoned to get and how to behave when stoned, all of which matter." In this way, he likens cannabis consumption to wine-not surprising as his background is in wine tasting. Matthews looks at cannabis from both an insider and outsider perspective. He admits that he smoked often in his youth, but gave it up to raise his family. Consequently, this made him feel out of touch with the contemporary 'cannabis culture.' He remedies this by traveling to one of the birthplaces of cannabis use, Morocco, and the global cannabis capital, Amsterdam, interviewing experts. However, by interjecting his research with personal anecdotes, he allows his pro-cannabis biases to seep through. Matthews discusses the debate over legalizing marijuana for both medicinal and recreational purposes, a debate which has pushed cannabis further into mainstream culture. First, he interviews medical experts to determine the actual medicinal benefits of smoking marijuana, though is unable to find much hard evidence. He also travels to Amsterdam where he attends the prestigious annual Cannabis Cup. Where do journalists find assignments like this one? Though interesting, Matthews' research seems scattered, and at times overly intellectual. He offers no new insights on the debates on marijuana, but rather summarizes many of the existing viewpoints. Most of his statistics are focused on British consumption levels. Regardless, he crafts an interesting look at historical and contemporary cannabis cultures spanning the globe. In Dope Girls, Kohn explores the birth of underground cocaine and opium use in Britain in the early 20th century. Because of its nature, these stories of the drug underground-stories such as flourishing interracial and homosexual relationships-were never recorded by mainstream history. Kohn examines how racial biases in 1920s and 30s in London lead to drugs being declared illegal. Although their harmful nature was cited as the official reason for the law, Kohn points out that this may be a cover up for the racial biases of the white lawmakers. Some, for example, made allegations that Chinese men used opium to lure white girls into their bedrooms, likely an urban legend that stemmed from a white man's fear of losing his girlfriend to an Asian man. Once drugs became illegal, their users had to find illicit means of obtaining them and the entire culture was forced underground to avoid prosecution. This corresponded with the rise in jazz music, and thus was born the underground nightclub. By unearthing this history, Kohn is both qualifying and challenging it. He points out that the upper class white patriarchal society feared the social changes these drugs could potentially bring about, and thus drugs became looked at in a derogatory light. Users became "dope fiends" and "menaces." However, Kohn still criticizes the direct inferences that forced these drug cultures underground by pointing out that many upper class white men and women had drug problems of their own. Kohn focuses specifically on women's use of drugs as a social phenomenon in both the upper and lower classes. Interestingly, upper class women would throw "morphine tea parties," whereas lower class singers, burlesque dancers and actresses became addicted to the rush cocaine produces in order to perform into the wee hours of the morning. He uses these examples to point out the social divide, and to highlight how some illegal drugs are more socially acceptable within different classes. He also looks at the proliferation of drug use, specifically opium, among sailors, soldiers and doctors. His examples are all documented cases, backed up by newspaper articles of the time, and he also includes many photographs, advertisements and comics to further illustrate how drugs were perceived by mainstream society. Kohn's tone is much more formal than Matthews', and although both books have their flaws, they both offer an incredible amount of trivial information that will surely impress friends sparking up a joint at a party. Cannabis Culture By Patrick Matthews Bloomsbury $19.15, paperback, 276 pp. Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground By Marek Kohn Granta Books $19.15, paperback, 202 pp. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom