The discourse of the "fight against drugs" and its ideologies

Abstract

The ideological contents of the literature on drug consumption and addiction with a moralistic and enforcement approach are analysed from a scientific and public health point of view. A non-literal sense is brought out so that the discourse may be understood in its original context and its links with the forms of power present in social relations. The theory of discourse analysis is used as the appropriate methodology by which the ideological indicators that impose on the texts on drugs a predetermined bias are to be found. The results clearly reveal a persuasive discourse that has the propose of directing and manipulating ways of being and seeing in society, allowing the authors to be seen as interested parties in a heavy-handed system for the maintenance "of the social status quo". The conclusion is that in these tests, it is not really the drug question in itself that is dealt with, but rather a mythical construction, used do combat social deviation.