Jailed for Possession: Illegal Drug Use, Regulation, and Power in Canada, 1920-1961 (review)

The debate about appropriate policies for dealing with illicit drugs normally divides historians into three diametrically opposed camps. One group favors criminalizing most if not all of this category of drugs and harsh jail terms for those caught dealing and/or using these substances. The second approach favors legislation to prohibit drug importation and use. The final historical approach is to view drug users through a more sympathetic eye, often favoring treatment and education over jail time, as well as the decriminalization of some less harmful currently illegal drugs. This volume definitely falls into the latter approach.

Based on her doctoral dissertation, Carstairs examines the efforts of the Canadian government and law enforcement agencies to curtail the use of illicit drugs in Canada during what the author terms the classic era of drug enforcement, 1920–61. This volume is part of the Studies in Gender and History Series, and the themes of racism, gender discrimination, and poverty run throughout the text.

Carstairs claims that the drug panic of the 1920s in Canada was created by the strong anti-Chinese sentiment among the general populace. These emotions led to the passage of harsh federal laws governing drugs, including mandatory six-month jail terms for drug possession and the deportation of Chinese involved in the drug trade. While her story involves all of Canada, the vast majority of the book covers British Columbia, which accounted for the largest number of drug addicts in Canada during these decades.

The text traces how these new drug laws were strictly enforced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) into the 1950s, when a more medical approach was taken to the Canadian drug scenario. The author describes drug users as usually coming from lower socioeconomic back-grounds and often having to survive hard childhoods. Women addicts often turned to prostitution to earn their drug money, while male drug users resorted to various minor criminal activities. While the RCMP's policing efforts were successful in reducing the number of Canadian addicts from around 9, 500 in the early 1920s to only some 4, 000 by 1939, Carstairs claims that this strict enforcement made the life of the average addict extremely difficult.

The author makes excellent use of case studies of addicts and the lives they lived, always pursued by authorities. Of particular interest is the work of the John Howard Society of Vancouver who took a most enlightened approach in attempting to reform imprisoned drug users. Finally, the 1961 federal Narcotic Control Act ended the mandatory six-month jail sentences, but failed to provide treatment for the recovering addicts, still leaving this task in the provinces' hands.

Carstairs has several major conclusions she forcefully puts forward. She states that strict law enforcement forced many addicts to try more dangerous drugs such as injection of heroine. Further she claims that harsh police actions may have attracted some youth to the drug culture as a sign of defying authority. Third, the author says that rigid enforcement made drug prices go much higher, thus making the drug users' lives that much more difficult. She charges that overt police violence during arrests put both themselves and the drug users at risk. Finally, Carstairs states that narcotic policing had the potential to lead to police corruption.

The 1960s witnessed an explosion of new illicit drugs and addicts, overwhelming the police's ability to control this situation. The author calls on physicians and social workers to come to the aid of addicts today. She blames social inequities and rampant consumerism for creating the modern addict. Carstairs favors decriminalizing marijuana and giving addicts the drugs they demand rather than force them into criminal activities.

As forceful as these arguments are made, there are some serious weaknesses in this volume. The author tends to over generalize in some of her claims, such as that the addict is the only victim of their drug usage...