Thesis

Drug wars before Duterte : ‘illicit’ substances and the American colonial experiment in the Philippines

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2022
Thesis identifier
  • T16266
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 201855073
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • This thesis presents an analysis of the existing market for psychoactive substances in thePhilippines at the end of the nineteenth century and the subsequent development, enforcementand impact of drug regulations during the American colonial era of the Philippines. Theanalytical focus is primarily on the actors involved in the processes of commerce, consumptionand regulation of drugs, namely the colonial state, consumers, distributors and activists,throughout the last decade of Spanish rule and the entirety of the American colonial era of thePhilippines, from circa 1890 to 1946. The research therein draws on records of the United StatesBureau of Insular Affairs, Philippines Supreme Court cases relating to drug violations, mediasources from the time, colonial agency records, international treaties and a number of publishedworks by US colonial officials. This thesis argues that the true impact of the American colonialera on drug regulations in the Philippines was not the limitation of unsanctioned commerce andconsumption of psychoactive substances there but the creation of a colonial prohibition thatdeveloped into an international drugs regulatory regime focused on controlling supply. In doingso, the thesis examines the nature of the market for drugs in the Philippines throughout the lateSpanish and American colonial eras. It assesses the reciprocal impact of American regulatoryactivity and colonial enforcement of these regulations on the drugs market and, in turn, thesignificance of the market for the contestation and development of new regulations andregulatory structures. Overall, it explores the genesis of colonial drugs prohibition in thePhilippines in the first decade of the American colonial era and its longitudinal impactthroughout the first half of the twentieth century, and presents a new way of evaluating Americanempire in practice.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Mills, James, 1971-
  • Barton, Patricia, 1960-
Resource Type
Note
  • This thesis was previously held under moratorium from 30th May 2022 until 30th May 2024.
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