The Image of Drug Desire

Abstract

In 1995 Desmond Manderson published a seminal academic piece on the symbolism of drugs (Manderson, 1995). Most drug scholars will know this piece as an important commentary that significantly improved our understanding of syringes, symbolism and drug laws. Manderson’s thinking about the syringe is in many ways an exemplar of how we come to know, fear and obsess about drugs. The syringe has graphic, representational, indexical and metaphoric qualities that make it one of the most powerful and resonant images of drug use in contemporary society (Vitellone, 2004, 2010; Kleinig, 2006).