Not an interloper -- and of course no one wants to ignore drugs while working on alcohol (see my own THIS STRANGE ILLNESS: ALCOHOLISM AND BILL W as an example) or vice versa.  A fruitful interchange between drug historians and alcohol historians is a very good thing.  A blending of the disciplines is a little more questionable in value (in my view), but of course the outcome may show my doubts were not warranted.  -- JL

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> Dear All,
>
> As one of the interlopers from 'drugs history' I thought it worth briefly
> addressing Jared's concerns. I think that the engagement of the history of
> drugs with the history of alcohol is an important one, not least of all so
> that we can discover for sure whether any of the boundaries between the two
> that Jared is so concerned to preserve are in fact important or
> justified. In other words, I am sure that while there is a impulse to
> identify ways in which the subject areas 'cross-fertilise' , there is
> similarly an interest in the ways in which they do not.
>
> Indeed, I also think it worth pointing out that there are obvious merits
> and outcomes from making the ADHG a broad church. I would find it silly to
> ignore alcohol issues in my own work on cannabis in the UK as it was
> temperance campaigners who had cut their teeth on alcohol campaigns that
> pursued cannabis at various times in Parliament in the nineteenth
> century. However, it would probably be unnecessary for someone studying
> alcohol use in thirteenth century Scotland to worry much about the use of
> cannabis/opium etc as they were virtually unknown, let alone available. I
> am sure that the ADHG community will be big enough to allow us all to keep
> company that we find immediately interesting, while allowing us to eye the
> whole range of perspectives on alchol and drugs from across societies and
> periods.
>
> cheers,
>
> Jim.
> __________________________________________________
> Dr James Mills
> ESRC Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer
> Department of History
> University of Strathclyde
> 16 Richmond St
> Glasgow G1 1XQ
> 0141 548 2206
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.strath.ac.uk/Departments/History/mills.htm