NWO grant for research of James Kennedy and Toine Pieters into Dutch drug policies

Prof. James Kennedy (University College Utrecht) and prof. Toine Pieters (Faculty of Science) have been awarded a grant from the ‘Vrije Competitie' of NWO for research into the development of Dutch drug policies. They will employ innovative digital history methods in combination with conventional methods in a ‘blended’ research methodology. Historian James Kennedy has been appointed Dean of Utrecht University College as of October 2015. Toine Pieters is professor History of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences at the Faculty of Science.

Dutch drug policies since the Second World War have oscillated between tolerance and repression of drug use. The Netherlands, with their internationally (in)famous reputation of guiding in decriminalization of drug use and in public health harm reduction policies, a reputation established in the 1970s-1990s, have since become more restrictive. However, whether tolerant or restrictive, pragmatic or moralistic, from a historical perspective drug policies in the Netherlands have shown a structural undercurrent of increasing regulation. In other Western countries, too, increased institutionalised interventions in drug use have gone hand in hand with oscillations in strategies and approaches.

Inadequately explained

The development of, and swings within, the regulatory imperative have been inadequately explained, as they are focused too narrowly on a univocal – and unique – national drug policy-making process. This project broadens the scope and investigates drug regulation in the Netherlands as historically resulting from the interaction with, the development of drug economies, shifting public perceptions about drug use, and the dynamics of local drug politics. The key research question is: how can the development and intensification of drug regulatory regimes since the Second World War be explained?

‘Blended’ research methodology

Digital history methods will be employed in combination with conventional methods in a ‘blended’ research methodology. Important digitized databases of textual sources that will be used are Delpher (the Dutch online historical newspaper database of the Royal Dutch Library [KB] (covering the period 1945-1990) and the LexisNexis database for international documents, periodicals and Dutch newspapers (covering the period 1990-2015). These will be researched using the following digital tools for data mining: Texcavator and Newsreader. Furthermore, the researchers will make use of digital tools developed by the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (e.g. Polimedia and AVResearcherXL).