Historique
Article de Périodique
The state and the legal Canadian cannabis user: Revisiting Howard Becker (2026)
Auteur(s) :
CORMACK, P. ;
COSGRAVE, J. F.
Année
2026
Page(s) :
440-454
Langue(s) :
Anglais
Domaine :
Drogues illicites
Thésaurus géographique
CANADA
Thésaurus mots-clés
CANNABIS
;
POLITIQUE
;
SOCIOLOGIE
;
LEGALISATION
;
USAGER
;
CULTUREL
;
USAGE RECREATIF
;
USAGE THERAPEUTIQUE
Résumé :
Drawing on Howard Becker's classic 1953 sociological interpretation of the process of becoming a cannabis user, this paper analyses how the Canadian state shapes the social and political meanings of cannabis and its use in the context of recent legalization. Our analysis moves from concrete face-to-face subcultural life studied by Becker to state discourses and administration, examining Canadian government commissions, task forces, and legislation that have thematically framed cannabis over the past 50 years. Becker's three stages of becoming a cannabis user are echoed in the Canadian context as: (1) learning to transfer trust to the licit market, (2) recognizing the cannabis high as a matter of individuated risk assessment, and (3) embracing official meanings of cannabis and its use. Finally, we show how this emergent domesticated cannabis consumer, as political ideal, sidelines projects of reparation and reconciliation with groups historically controlled and criminalized in Canada's long war on drugs. [Author's abstract]
Affiliation :
Department of Sociology, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada
Department of Sociology, Trent University Durham, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Department of Sociology, Trent University Durham, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada