4.0 Introduction
Chapter Introduction
In Canada prior to the early 1900s, there were no legal restrictions on the sale and consumption of psychoactive drugs, or moral stigma attached to substance use and addiction. Originally, “drug dependence” was not seen as immoral and/or regarded as a personal failing, crime, or an indication of a psychological problem. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, however, there was a redefinition of the meaning of certain forms of drug consumption behaviour. This shift was in part due to: the influence of Protestant values and beliefs, that emphasized sobriety and moral purity; the medical communities increasing concern with non-regulated medicine(s); and colonial discourses that propagated the belief that substance use was “a contagion brought to the west by racialized outsiders, and thus, a threat to white middle-class morality” (CDPC, 2021). This chapter explores the history of the Temperance movement and alcohol prohibition in Canada, as well as early Canadian drug policies. It also identifies the role that some influential people in Canada played in the development of early prohibitionist/criminalizing drug laws and the definition of problematic substance use behaviour.
Chapter Objectives/Learning Outcomes
After completing the chapter materials, you should have an understanding of:
- The history of Canadian attitudes towards drugs, the people who use them, and ultimately how we control drug use.
- The history of Canadian attitudes towards alcohol, the people who use it, and how we control alcohol manufacture and use in Canada.
- The role of moral reformers in changing attitudes and policies towards psychoactive substances and the people who them.
Questions to Think About When Completing Chapter Materials
- Identify 2 key moral reformers who influenced prohibition in early Canada? What role did they play in the origins of Canadian drug laws?
- What are the dominant themes used by moral reformers to gain support for alcohol and drug prohibitionist policies (i.e., what claims did moral reformers make about alcohol/drugs and substance/alcohol use)?
- How has early Canadian drug prohibition shaped the ways in which Canadian’s view drugs, drug use and people who use substances (PWUS) today?
Temperance refers to the belief that if one cannot completely abstain from drinking alcohol, that they drink in moderation (Belshaw, 2016).
“To prohibit something is to ban it or forbid it. Prohibition is a policy supported by law that prohibits a particular item. Prohibition is most closely associated with alcohol, as the prohibition of alcohol has been a widely discussed issue throughout history. To have prohibition on alcohol is to ban the sale, manufacturing, exportation and trafficking of alcohol, or any combination of these things based on the government policy” (Prohibition in Canada, n.d.b).
Moral reformers or moral entrepreneurs are individuals, groups, organizations, or social movements (McGrady, June 26, 2022) who work to control or discourage a number of practices that they view as immoral (e.g., sexual activity for pleasure/or outside of marriage, gambling, not attending religious services, consuming drugs and/or alcohol (Searle, 1998). This is accomplished through attempts to persuade society to adopt and enforce community standards consistent with [the reformers] own set of ardently held moral beliefs" and ideals regarding social order (McGrady, June 26, 2022, para. 2).
