Sending a message: Ecstasy, equasy and the media politics of drug classification
Health Risk & Society April 8, 2011 Jeremy W. Collins 4 citations
The paper analyzes UK national newspaper coverage of the 2009 debate over reclassifying MDMA (ecstasy) from class A to class B, following a scientific review by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. Media accounts contrasted the government's rejection of the recommendation—and the forced apology of ACMD chairman David Nutt for comparing ecstasy's danger to horse-riding—with the authority of scientific evidence, while others portrayed Nutt as out of touch or politically motivated. Using a governmentality approach to risk, the analysis shows that neo-liberal managerialism in UK governmental discourse largely set the media agenda, despite conservatism in drug policy.