Drug law is a multispecies concern

In this essay, I argue that the law in general and drug law in particular are predicated on hierarchies of meaning and value, including hierarchies in which 'the human' is afforded primacy. This matters, because legal, policy and practice structures that privilege human interests are increasingly understood to be implicated in global injustice, climate and planetary crises. Western legal systems are coming under increasing scrutiny in legal scholarship, but such critiques have been less influential in drug research. The aim of this essay is to introduce readers to a wider, burgeoning literature that considers posthuman, multispecies and post-anthropocentric questions in law, to make a case for the importance of these critiques for our field and illustrate how they might be relevant. I argue that drug laws, policies and practices are a matter of concern for all creatures on Earth, including animals, bacteria, insects, plants and fungi. This should be obvious when we consider the fact that various beings, such as plants and fungi, have never been outside drug policy, including because they are very objects we humans cultivate and consume, and because they are some of the central targets of prohibition. Drawing on ideas from legal scholars working in 'multispecies justice' (Celermajer et al. 2024; Haraway 2008), 'posthuman' and 'more-than-human' legalities (e.g. Petersmann 2022; Jones 2021; Braverman 2015), I argue that we need new legal and policy approaches. I offer some provocations on what a posthuman or multispecies or approach to drug law, policy and practice might entail.