A review of two canonical moral panics in the United States in the 1930s: the contribution of an inter-institutional perspective

A Comparison of the Anti-Cannabis Campaign (FBN) and the War on Crime Campaign (FBI)

Abstract

The demonization of cannabis and its users in the 1930s is often considered a classic episode of “moral panic”. Through a comparison between the anti-cannabis propaganda that was led by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the mediatization of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s “war on crime”, I suggest two possible perspectives from which to discuss the heuristic contribution of the concept of moral panic in sociological analysis. The first is to examine the context of the production of moral panic and to explore what is at stake for the producers of that panic. The second is to look at these episodes as two opportunities for the government to expand its jurisdiction. I will finally demonstrate how moral panic can be interpreted as an indicator of the political and institutional challenges encountered by its promoters.