The Control of Fuddle and Flash: A Sociological History of the Regulation of Alcohol and Opiates

288 Pages·2000·7.35 MB·English

by  J. W. Gerritsen

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THE CONTROL OF FUDDLE AND FLASH
ISSA.Gerritsen.76.vw 25-04-2000 14:41 Pagina 2
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

IN

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Editor
S. ISHWARAN
VOLUME LXXVI
JAN-WILLEM GERRITSEN
THE CONTROL OF FUDDLE AND FLASH
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JAN-WILLEM GERRITSEN

THE CONTROL OF

FUDDLE AND FLASH

A Sociological History of the Regulation
of Alcohol and Opiates
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON • KÖLN
2000
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This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
The Control of Fuddle and Flash : a sociological history of the regulation
of alcohol and opiates / by Jan-Willem Gerritsen – Leiden ; Boston ; Köln :
Brill, 2000.
(International studies in sociology and social anthropology ; Vol. 76)

ISBN 90–04–11640–0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gerritsen J.-W. (Jan-Willem)
[Politieke economie van de roes. English]
The control of fuddle and flash : a sociological history of the regulationof alcohol and
opiates / Jan-Willem Gerritsen.
p.cm. -- (International studies in sociology and social anthropology,
ISSN 0074-8684;v.76)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004116400
1. Alcoholism--Economic aspects. 2. Alcoholoism--Social aspects. 3. Narcotic habit--
Economic aspects. 4. Narcotic habit--Social aspects. I.Title. II. Series.
HV5101 .G4713 2000
363.4'1--dc21 00-03828
ISSN 0074-8684
ISBN 90.04.11640.0
© Copyright 2000 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
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printed in the netherlands
Table of Contents

Preface ...................................................................................................... VII

Introduction ............................................................................................. 1

1. A taxonomy of intoxicants ................................................................ 11

An alternative classification ................................................................ 14

Developments in neurophysiology ...................................................... 15

The mechanism of alcohol .................................................................. 17

The action of opiates ........................................................................... 18

The lessons of ethology ....................................................................... 19

2. The supply side: alcohol .................................................................... 23

The control of yeast ............................................................................. 23

Beer, wine and strong liquor ............................................................... 24

Commercialization and increased scale of operations ........................ 29

3. The supply side: opiates .................................................................... 41

The domestication of Papaver somniferum ......................................... 41

The three markets for opium ............................................................... 51

4. The colonial opium trade .................................................................. 57

Britain and the Netherlands: a profitable trade .................................... 57

The global regulation of opiates: the role played by the United

States ............................................................................................... 78

5. Excise taxes on alcohol: three countries .......................................... 87

The sociology of taxation .................................................................... 88

Alcohol excise and state formation in the Netherlands and Britain .... 94

Alcohol excise and state formation in the United States ..................... 106

6. Physicians as suppliers ...................................................................... 117

The origins of national medical regimes for opiates ........................... 124

Morphine and the hypodermic syringe ................................................ 135

7. Industrialization and the war on alcohol ........................................ 141

Three paces of industrialization .......................................................... 141

The temperance movement and its origins .......................................... 142

The anti-alcohol struggle: three variants ............................................. 153

Coda ..................................................................................................... 187

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CONTENTS
8. Physicians as detoxifiers .................................................................... 189

Alcoholism: from sin to syndrome ...................................................... 189

Medical practitioners and opiate addiction: a history of

delayed reaction ............................................................................... 195

[VI]
From sin to sickness—and back again?

The modern addiction syndrome ..................................................... 204

9. The dynamics of prohibition and illegal supply ............................. 209

US Prohibition: 1920-1933 ................................................................. 209

The illegal market for opiates: 1912 to the present day ...................... 217

Illegal drug markets: global features ................................................... 234

10. Summary and conclusions ................................................................ 241

State formation and the regulation of intoxicants ............................... 242

Physicians as suppliers ........................................................................ 245

Industrialization and the anti-alcohol movement ................................ 247

Physicians as detoxifiers ...................................................................... 250

The dynamics of prohibition and illegal supply .................................. 252

Coda ..................................................................................................... 254

Bibliography ............................................................................................. 256

Update ....................................................................................................... 268

Credits ....................................................................................................... 272

Index ......................................................................................................... 274

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Preface

The publication of this book in English pleases me enormously. Not only be­
cause it makes a real contribution to the debate on the regulation of alcohol and
opiates, but also because my husband, Dr Jan-Willem Gerritsen, who sadly
died in 1993, very much wanted to see his book appear in English.
I should like to thank drs Nico Oudendijk, former Director of the Depart­
ment of Mental Health Care, Addiction Affairs and Consumer Policy of the
Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, and Professor Johan Goudsblom, chair­
man of the Norbert Elias Foundation, for the translation subsidies they grant­
ed, which followed naturally from their enthusiasm about the book. I would
like to thank Dr D. Korf, Phd, associate professor at the ‘Bonger’ Institute of
Criminology at the University of Amsterdam, for making the Update. I should
also like to thank the translator, Beverley Jackson, for the commitment to the
project and for our pleasant collaboration on the translation.
Finally, I should like to thank Dr Han Israëls, Dr Annet Mooij and Dr Geert
de Vries for their assistance in preparing the book for publication in English.
Drs Henriëtte Oudshoorn
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fig. 1. The social regulation of the use of intoxicants among the Yanomami
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Introduction

Intoxicants and controls
The use of intoxicants occurs in all human societies and in all ages, and it has
also been observed among numerous animal species. In human societies, it is
characteristic for this use to be subjected to social regulation: the location and
time of use, the type and quantity of substance, the mode of its preparation and
consumption, who may and who may not use it; all these aspects are socially
regulated. Social regulation varies from one intoxicant to the next. At one end
of the scale are tea and coffee, which are nowadays regulated along informal
channels; legislation scarcely plays a role. At the other end we find substances
such as cocaine and heroin, the use of which is subject to a far stricter regime.1
Here, repressive laws and sanctions are prominent, with every effort being
made to curb consumption.
Different types of responses are formulated in different societies. Most
notably, alcohol, a common and legal drug in most societies, is prohibited in
countries whose state religion is Islam. Looked at through time, a single soci­
ety may have modes of regulation that vary from one age to the next.
This book deals with such modes of regulation of intoxicants in different
societies, and the ways in which they change.
In modern Western societies, organized as sovereign states and characterized
by a far-reaching division of labour, people have grown increasingly interde-
pendent.2 This has affected the way in which they regulate their behaviour and
emotional life. The sociologist Norbert Elias has commented: ‘What changes
is the way in which people have to live with one another; in response, their
behaviour changes, ultimately producing a change in the totality of their con­
sciousness and desires.’3
Elias contends that as people come to inhabit a larger, more complex world
with less pronounced differences of power, their behaviour and their passions
become more moderate and more amenable to self-control. Taking table man­
1 The term ‘regime’ as used by Johan Goudsblom refers to all forms of pressure exer­
cised by individuals within a community in relation to themselves and each other in order
to regulate behaviour—in this case, the consumption of intoxicants (Goudsblom
1988:173).
2 Abram de Swaan has referred to the “extension and intensification of human chains of
interdependence” (De Swaan 1989:12).
3 Elias 1982 (1939) II:286.
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