The Drug War Dialectic in Early Twentieth-Century Chicago

This article shows how the violence, carceral capitalism, and racialization that characterized Chicago’s drug war politics at the turn of the twenty-first century hold historical roots in the changes of the pharmaceutical industry during the late nineteenth. Historical research on the evolving business cultures of pharmacy during this period reveals that tensions between drug manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers contributed to the familiar operating structure of Chicago’s illegal drug market. The first years of the twentieth century witnessed a modernizing moment for drug war politics when the interests of retail pharmacists and social reformers coalesced on a police reform campaign intent on “waging war” on “dope.” Historicizing the century-old existence of violence, invasive policing, and prison growth in the market shows how the consuming policy challenges of drug war politics have grown in scale over time and hold origins in the old insecurities of a market dominated by mass-produced proprietary medicines.