Hogwarts’s Hidden Drug Scene by John Ciampi

John Ciampi Presents: Hogwarts’s Hidden Drug Scene: The “War on Drugs,” Sexual Violence, and Subverting Bio-Power

Harry Potter Academic Conference 2024

Abstract: The later Harry Potter books have been criticized and praised for taking up themes like sexuality, death, and social inequality. Dealing with these issues associated with the teenager’s loss of childish innocence is part of the work of young adult literature. Another increasingly important issue connected with the coming-of-age story is drug use. The discourse on drugs surrounding most teens in American institutions in the early 2000s was derived from the “war on drugs” declared by the Reagan administration. This “just say no” approach denies the realities of drugs in the lives of modern teens. This, then, is the site of intervention for a critical consideration of the role drugs play in Harry Potter.

At first glance, the books offer little on this topic. However, when their tendency to deal with social issues via metaphor is considered, Hogwarts’s hidden drug scene becomes visible. The Mirror of Erised functions as a metaphor for addiction. Here, a position similar to Nancy Reagan’s is articulated. Half-Blood Prince provides descriptions of Harry’s use of the mood-altering substance Felix Felicis and Ron’s non-consensual consumption of a love potion. Felix Felicis disrupts the dominant medical and psychological discourses on drugs, while the love potion acknowledges the role sexual violence plays in drug use. By drawing on research from the fields of history, addiction studies, philosophy, and economics, this presentation shows how Potter provides a thoughtful, and sometimes radical, roadmap for navigating the difficult terrain of coming of age in a modern world where drugs are ubiquitous.