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 med- ical 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. Bringing together stories of consumer resistance and government control, Strange Trips offers timely recommendations for the future of drug regulation. “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 is Chancellor’s Fellow in History at the University of Strathclyde and the incoming George Urdang Chair in the History of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. 1 6 M Q U P S P R I N G 2 0 1 9 H I S T O R Y O F M E D I C I N E • H E A LT H S T U D I E S Strange Trips Science, Culture, and the Regulation of Drugs lucas richert Examining the boundaries between recreational and medicinal drugs in the eyes of the public and the law. S P E C I F I C AT I O N S ($Ht..7’d008L3;£339$tor0C (0Ct$o. c02mt$03 crdCt03 t8 ru0 @t3r92f 9E (0Ct$t801 @0o.ru1 o8C c9$t0rf February 2019 -5,7a755pl7lnp57- 4phi-lv bAU1 4s-i-lv Dc1 kssi-- $.9ru n B - snh66 h NVF 6u9r93 0g99T omot.oN.0