ABSTRACT

Othering, which constitutes a form of social exclusion, is often characterized, by symbolic violence and the naturalization of disadvantage, exploitation and structural, if not outright physical, violence. Othering as a social process need not invent dissimilarity; rather it must assign dissimilitude a meaningful social value. This chapter reveals Othering does not just happen automatically or naturally, it must be manufactured and reinforced across the institutions and communication vehicles within society. It examines the drug trade and international drug tracking is used to front initiatives designed to achieve national geopolitical and geo-economic goals in cases in which direct action would be illegal or embarrassing, or would not be popular with voters. The chapter explores the world of drug use, real or imagined, or some blending of the two has become a reservoir of culturally salient images, ideas, and settings harvested as a source of entertainment for everyone else. Drug users, under current social conditions, often die poor and they die often.