Drugs, hypocrisy and power: the paradoxes of Hitler and Freud at the beginning of the prohibitionist era

Abstract

Contextualization: This article critically analyzes the intersection between the prohibitionist ideology on drugs and the hypocrisy that marked Adolf Hitler and Sigmund Freud’s relationship with psychoactive substances. Although both individuals were users of certain drugs, the strengthening of prohibitionist discourse led them to publicly conceal or minimize this aspect of their biographies. This contradiction reveals how the moralization and criminalization of drug use were shaped by political and economic interests, contributing to a repressive environment.

Objectives: The study aims to investigate how the ideology of the "war on drugs" influenced the construction of a hypocritical framework in the lives of Hitler and Freud. It seeks to demonstrate that, despite their ideological and historical differences, both were affected by a prohibitionist logic that shaped their behavior and public discourse.

Methodology: The research adopts a hypothetical-deductive approach, with a qualitative focus, grounded in a literature review. The analysis incorporates historical and criminological references to contextualize the rise of prohibitionism in the early 20th century and its impact on the lives of the subjects examined.

Results: The analysis demonstrates that prohibitionism has been consolidated as a mechanism of social and political control, regardless of the ideological orientation of the regimes that adopt it. Hitler, while publicly promoting a moralist discourse, regularly used various substances such as opioids and methamphetamines under medical prescription. Freud, in turn, was an enthusiast of cocaine but omitted this relationship from his main body of work. It is concluded that both cases exemplify how prohibitionism operates based on ideological constructs, fostering a culture of hypocrisy that persists to this day.