Abstract: This article examines the emergence of methamphetamine use and production as a social problem in Canada, particularly through media discourse. Rather than confine our discussion to print media, we also examine news photographs and headlines as cultural products. In addition, we briefly discuss several drug scares and media campaigns in Canada in the nineteenth century to contextualize the “crystal meth scare.” We discuss the tendency of contemporary newspaper articles, photographs and Internet sites about methamphetamine to reiterate conventional ideas about drugs and the people who use and produce them. Our analysis of print media and photos about methamphetamine centres on a special 2005 supplement to Vancouver newspaper The Province. Drawing from critical researchers whose analyses of media argue that news is a cultural product and that “law and order” is an important news category, we conclude with an examination of Canadian federal, provincial, and local responses to the crystal meth threat, which most often support law-and-order initiatives.Résumé : Dans cet article, nous discutons de la tendance qu’ont les reportages, photos et sites Internet de journaux contemporains à réitérer des idées conventionnelles sur la méthamphétamine, ses producteurs et ses consommateurs. Notre étude porte sur un supplément paru en 2005 dans le quotidien The Province de Vancouver. Elle s’inspire de chercheurs critiques qui soutiennent que les nouvelles sont un produit culturel et que « l’ordre public » en est une catégorie importante. Nous concluons notre article par l’examen d’initiatives gouvernementales au Canada face à la méthamphétamine qui très souvent privilégient cette idée d’ordre public.
Seven tips for crushing free speech in the 21st century: Hey big guy, we know you’re the boss man, but here are some tips to really rule the roost
