David Courtwright specializes in drug history. He also writes about violence, political and policy history, aviation, and frontier environments. He has taught medical, U.S., and world history at the University of North Florida, where he is presidential professor emeritus in the Department of History.
Courtwright has published influential books on drug use and drug policy, both in American and world history; the social problems of frontier environments on the land and in the air; and the culture war that roiled American politics during and after the 1960s. Whether it is about drugs, violence, aerospace, or cultural politics, his research is concerned with power, policy, and social structure. His ambition is to identify what drives fundamental changes in modern social and political history.
In this episode:
- Personal – how did Dr. Courtwright get into the history of addiction
- Limbic Capitalism and pleasure circuitry
- What is the food industry?
- Digital Addiction
- Activism & Awareness of Addiction
- Sugar taxes and public policy
- Dr. Courtwright’s latest book: The Age of Addiction – How Bad Habits Became Big Business
- Consumerist Dystopia
- Harm Reduction
- Solutions – graffiti campaigns, public health notices, clever propaganda, class action suits
- What’s next?
- Signature Question
