Licit Narcotics Production in Australia: Legal Geographies Nomospheric and Topological

Abstract

Licit narcotics production in Australia is based on the cultivation of a poppy crop restricted to Tasmania under local, national, and international regulation. Its legal geographical analysis is advanced by drawing on the thinking about 'the nomosphere' and 'topology' developed by David Delaney and John Allen, respectively. Australia continues to lead global production of licit narcotics as distinct new entities, relationships, and capacities have been enabled by differentiating between the constituent alkaloids morphine and thebaine with a loophole identified in US legislation of the 80/20 rule. Nomospheric and topological lenses are used to focus on the intensive, emergent qualities of the industry in addition to the traditional topography revealed in its scalar, networked territorialisation. A renewed understanding of the spatial workings and power plays relevant can inform possible transformation around narcotics production.

Legal geography 1: Court materiality

“…David Delaney (2004, 2010, 2014) has provided a new vocabulary for understanding the relationship between law and space through his concept of the nomosphere , referring to ‘the cultural–material environs that are constituted by the reciprocal materialization of the legal and the legal signification of the sociospatial’ (Delaney, 2004: 851). By foregrounding the production of spatiotemporal orders through enduring normative frameworks, the concept of the nomosphere has provoked work in as varied contexts as the moralities of market exchange in Morocco (Turner, 2013) and the production of licit narcotics in Tasmania (Williams, 2013). In each of these works, reciprocation is key, gesturing at the mutual constitution of law and materiality.…”

Legal Geography: Becoming Spatial Detectives

“…In addition, and increasingly, scholars have applied legal geographic techniques to high profile world events and geopolitical practices, such as extraordinary rendition and torture (d'Arcus ), drone strikes (Smith ), licit narcotic growing (Williams ) as well as the proclamation of Antarctica (Collis ) or the orbiting of a satellite (Collis ). Such studies invoke rules of international law – applicable either to people or states – that transcend national boundaries.…”

Legal pluralisms, justice and spatial conflicts: New directions in legal geography

“…Because of the operation and enforcement of multiple laws and regulations on place from multiple scales in specific places, those places may have competing or resistant social norms, customs or material conditions that impact upon the “closure” and effectiveness of laws. Indeed, there are often geopolitical impositions of laws from “above”, not just through colonialism, but through more normative diplomatic and political‐economic processes (Robinson, ) and through the influence of networks of powerful actors (Williams, ). At a time when rapid international or supra‐state legal changes are arising through trade agreements (from multilateral, bilateral, and regional negotiations like the Trans‐Pacific Partnership Agreement), human rights laws, multilateral environmental agreements, and because of major political changes (e.g.…”