Decolonial approaches to drugs and drug studies

Maziyar Ghiabi

Chapter 16 in Research Handbook on Drugs and Society, 2026, pp 193-205 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The chapter provides an overview of the main lines of inquiry and contention around decolonisation, with an introduction to the tensions around the use and abuse of the term. It discusses decolonisation as an epistemic field redefining historical and linguistic interventions and as a political project focused on advancing a transformative intervention in drug policy. The chapter also reflects upon the emerging avenues in rethinking epistemologies of drugs by decentring the focus away from West-centric approaches and in favour of southern epistemologies. Ultimately, the chapter highlights the thorny issue of policy on drugs, one field where decolonisation may come to mean a radical reform of international policies as well as recognition of the legitimate place of certain substances in the lives and livelihoods of communities that have coexisted with mind-altering substances for centuries and longer.

Keywords: Decolonisation; Global South; Epistemology; Ontology; Social theory; Drug policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802209136
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