Hooked On History

Hooked On History

Exploring the social and medical history of drug use in the UK

Episodes

  1. 16/06/2021

    The Addict and addiction: From victorian doctors to eugenic psychiatrists

    This episode discusses the early medical history of the addict as an identity and addiction as a diagnosis. Demonstrating how ideas around degeneration and eugenics were influential in the early development the 'addict'. In doing so, we will also explore the origins of the liberal 'British System' of drug control and why it diverged so heavily from the USA's policy of criminalisation.

  2. 18/08/2020

    Race, cannabis, sex and the police

    This episode covers why cannabis is illegal in the UK, the 1950s press using it to inflame fears around racial mixing and the police's use of drug laws to harass black people.

  3. 08/06/2020

    Thalidomide and the profession and the industry

    In this episode of our History of UK drug use: The 1950s and 1960s series we cover the thalidomide disaster which resulted in  10,000-15,000 babies to be born with malformed or missing limbs. This is  done in the context of the lax rules around pharmaceutical marketing, which we covered last episode, and the relationship between the medical  profession and the pharmaceutical industry.

  4. 28/04/2020

    Pharmaceutical marketing

    In this episode of our History of UK drug use: The 1950s and 1960s series we will discuss drug advertising in the 50s and early 60s. The pharmaceutical boom of the 1950s was accompanied by a marketing boom and this episode will demonstrate the tactics drug companies used to push doctors to prescribe drugs; many of which were unneeded. We will also take a look at political reactions to the issue.

  5. 17/03/2020

    The rise of psychopharmacology and medical and philosophical reactions to it

    In this episode of our History of UK drug use: The 1950s and 1960s series I will present some of the origins of the Psychophamacological Revolution and the drug taking boom that accompanied it. We will also  examine the reactions of the medical profession to it, as their societal  role increasingly revolved around prescribing drugs.

  6. 09/03/2020

    History of UK drug use: the 1950s and 1960s - Introduction

    In this short episode I introduce the series. It includes an overview of what the series will cover and and its relevance to our situation today.

  • 6 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Exploring the social and medical history of drug use in the UK

Information

  • Creator
    Hooked On History
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2021
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Hooked On History Copyright 2026
  • Show Website
    Hooked On History