New Books Network George Fisher, "Beware Euphoria: The Moral Roots and Racial Myths of America's War on Drugs" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Jan 24, 2026
George Fisher, Judge John Crown Professor of Law at Stanford and former prosecutor, discusses his book Beware Euphoria. He traces moral roots of drug policy and how early laws aimed to shield white youth’s morals and health. He challenges prevailing racial-motive accounts, examines cocaine’s medical origins, early cannabis exceptions, and how enforcement later shifted harms onto communities of color.
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Two-Decade Microfilm Deep Dive
- Fisher began research in 2000 and relied on many student researchers to search microfilm newspapers across the U.S.
- He credits microfilm deep dives for uncovering local debates absent from formal legislative records.
Moral Roots Of Drug Laws
- Moral opposition to intoxication traces to ancient and Puritan ideas that prize reason over pleasures that disable it.
- 'Beware euphoria' captures centuries of moral anxiety aimed at mind‑altering pleasures rather than specific racial targets.
Racial Myths vs. Documentary Evidence
- Historians have argued early drug bans were racially motivated, but Fisher finds the documentary record often doesn't support that causal claim.
- Racial stereotypes existed, yet early prohibition often stemmed from moral concerns about youth and sobriety.
