Drugs in Africa

Africa has very recently emerged as a focal point of the global "War on Drugs," as international drug control agencies warn of the continent's growing role as a distribution hub for cocaine and heroin, while also lamenting the prevalence of cannabis and alcohol commerce and use, especially among African youths. Both illegal drugs and legal substances such as alcohol are increasingly tied to broader economic and public health issues including unemployment, criminality, family disintegration, and HIV infection. Notwithstanding this growing alarm, there is relatively little serious scholarship addressing the issue of drugs in Africa. This cutting-edge volume is the first to address the burgeoning interest in drugs and Africa among scholars, policymakers, and the general public: no other book offers an Africa-wide analysis of the subject. It brings together an interdisciplinary group of leading academics and practitioners to explore the use, trade, production, and control of mind-altering substances on the continent, from heroin and cannabis to alcohol and khat. In particular, it examines the tension between integrative social practices and socially disruptive vices, revealing these categories to be largely arbitrary and tools of social control.