Deconstructing prohibitionist ideology: A sociocognitive approach to understand opinions on UK drug policy and the law

'The area I'm from is very rough': Drug users' views on the role of social and economic factors in their experiences of drug-related harm

Over the last thirty-five years, academic researchers in Ireland have consistently demonstrated the relationship between social deprivation and the most severe instances of drug-related harm. More recently, researchers have begun to include the voices of drug users with lived experiences of harm in these discussions. However, these studies have more often tended to focus on drug users' views on alternative drug policy options, rather than their views on the social and economic factors relevant to their experiences of drug-related harm. Therefore, the current study conducted 12 in-depth interviews with drug users experiencing harm in an Irish city, in order to elicit their views on the specific role they believe social and economic factors played in conditioning their later experiences of drug--related harm. The study participants highlight harms experienced in the education system, the family home, and the local community as more relevant to their later experiences of drug-related harm than their social deficits in education, a lack of resources in the local community or in their families. Many participants also discuss meaningful relationships as the last defence against these harms and argue that the loss of such relationships coincided with their most severe incidences of drug-related harm. The study concludes with a discussion of the conceptual framework of structural violence in terms of its potential for interpreting the participants' views and suggests several avenues for further research.

Towards a social harm approach in drug policy

In this paper, we explore how the social harm approach can be adapted within drug policy scholarship. Since the mid-2000s, a group of critical criminologists have moved beyond the concept of crime and criminology, towards the study of social harm. This turn proceeds decades of research that highlights the inequities within the criminal legal system, the formation of laws that protect the privileged and punish the disadvantaged, and the systemic challenge of the effectiveness of retribution and punishment at addressing harm in the community. The purpose of this paper is to first identify parallels between the social harm approach and critical drug scholarship, and second to advocate for the adoption of a social harm lens in drug policy scholarship. In the paper, we draw out the similarities between social harm and drug policy literatures, as well as outline what the study of social harm can bring to an analysis of drug policy. This includes a discussion on the ontology of drug crime, the myth of drug crime and the ineffective use of the crime control system in response to drug use. The paper then discusses how these conversations in critical criminology and critical drugs scholarship can be brought together to inform future drug policy research. This reflection details the link between social harm and the impingement of human flourishing, explores the role of decolonizing drug policy, advocates for the centralization of lived experience within the research process and outlines how this might align with harm reduction approaches. We conclude by arguing that the social harm approach challenges the idea that neutrality is the goal in drug policy and explicitly seeks to expand new avenues in activist research and social justice approaches to policymaking.

People who use drugs' prioritization of regulation amid decriminalization reforms in British Columbia, Canada: A qualitative study

BACKGROUND

North America and the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada, is experiencing an unprecedented number of overdose deaths. In BC, overdose has become the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 10-59 years old. In January 2023, BC decriminalized personal possession of a number of illegal substances with one aim being to address overdose deaths through stigma reduction and promoting access to substance use services.

METHODS

We conducted a qualitative study to understand people who use drugs' (PWUD) perceptions of the new decriminalization policy, immediately prior to its' implementation (October-December 2022). To contextualize decriminalization within broader drug policy, we also asked PWUD what they perceived as the priority issues drug policy ought to address and the necessary solutions. Our final sample included 38 participants who used illegal drugs in the past month.

RESULTS

We identified four themes: 1) The illicit drug supply as the main driver of drug toxicity deaths 2) Concerns about the impact of decriminalization on drug toxicity deaths 3) Views towards decriminalization as a policy response in the context of the drug toxicity crisis 4) Regulation as a symbol of hope for reducing drug toxicity deaths.

CONCLUSION

From our data it became clear that many anticipated that decriminalization would have minimal or no impact on the overdose crisis. Regulation was perceived as the necessary policy approach for effectively and candidly addressing the drivers of the ongoing overdose crisis. These findings are important as jurisdictions consider different approaches to moving away from prohibition-based drug policy.

When self-direction meets conformity: Surfacing Schwartz's 10 basic human values in drug policy dialogue with lived/living experience participants

BACKGROUND

Research on values is gaining in popularity within drug policy scholarship. To date, research has focused on analysing values within policy, through documentary analysis and interviews with key stakeholders. We extend this research enquiry to investigate the values that emerge from drug policy debate with those who have lived and/or living experience of using drugs.

METHODS

We used workshop data collected from the ESRC-funded Drug Policy Voices project as the basis for our analysis. Within the workshops, participants were given a range of drug policy scenarios to discuss. We selected three scenarios for this paper which discussed policies related to cannabis, heroin, and MDMA/ecstasy. We coded the workshop data using Schwartz's ten basic values, which is a framework that perceives values as the core 'motivators of action' that underpin choices, attitudes and behaviours.

RESULTS

We found that the values of 'self-direction', 'security' and 'conformity' were prominent across this participant group, when discussing these policy topics. Yet the drug policy preferences discussed in the workshops revealed that it is the combinations of values that nuance preferences. Security combined with self-direction supports policies that enhance personal responsibility for change; self-direction combined with hedonism supports freedom to use drugs, whereas self-direction combined with conformity and achievement supports recovery policies; and conformity combined with tradition and power supports abstinence-based drug prevention.

CONCLUSION

Schwartz's ten basic values provided a useful framework for surfacing values that underpin drug policy preferences. These exploratory findings demonstrate that identifying values within dialogue is a complex process and reinforces opposing values can explain policy preference differences. More importantly, policy preferences were underpinned by combinations of values including those that are apparently opposing in Schwartz's circumplex.

The Impact of Later Life Events on Cessation Motivation of Older Adults with Substance Use Disorder in Hong Kong

Life-course researchers have found that age-graded life events, such as marriage and employment, may provoke a turning point in the trajectories of substance use and motivate young adults with substance use disorder (SUD) to seek addiction treatment and cease illegal drug use. However, few studies have focused on the impact of the life events experienced by older adults with SUD in their later life on these trajectories. Even less is known about this phenomenon in non-Western contexts. Thus, we conducted interviews with 34 older individuals with SUD in Hong Kong and explored how later life events affected their motivation to cease illegal drug use. Our findings highlight the influence of age on how life events are experienced and the need for age-specific academic studies of substance use trajectories. The results also have implications for policymakers, as the criminalization and stigmatization of drug use may have a negative impact on the trajectories of substance use among older populations.

Doing autoethnographic drugs research: Some notes from the field

This article is concerned with the processes of doing research with people who use drugs, as someone who has a history of using drugs. It offers a brief introductory review to autoethnographic research methods and how they might be used to enhance the practice of drugs research. Through illustrative examples from the author's own experiences of researching heroin use, the article cautiously makes the case for an increased focus upon our drug-using experiences in drugs research. The positive and negative implications of this for research methods in drug studies are discussed, as well as their potential intersections with drug policy debates.

Rethinking enhancement substance use: A critical discourse studies approach

BACKGROUND

We draw on both interdisciplinary enhancement substance use research and critical drug studies scholarship to reconceptualise enhancement substance use. Our critical discourse approach illuminates how a variety of substances are positioned as tools for self-improvement. In reconceptualising enhancement substance use, we ask what different substances can be positioned as providing enhancement? How are they positioned as tools for achieving enhancement or self-improvement goals? What discursive repertoires are employed to achieve these aims?

METHODS

Forty interviews were conducted with people who use substances, such as ayahuasca, psilocybin, cocaine, alcohol, nootropics and non-prescription pharmaceuticals, including Adderall and modafinil. To explore the meanings of and motivations for substance consumption, we apply the sociocognitive approach (SCA) pioneered by Teun van Dijk (2014; 2015) and examine language through the triangulation of cognition, discourse and society. We analyse how different substances are positioned as tools for achieving enhancement or self-improvement goals.

RESULTS

We identify three distinct discursive repertoires that frame substance use as enhancement: the discourse of transformation, the discourse of healing and the discourse of productivity. When accounting for enhancement substance use, our participants employ a number of discursive strategies, including ideological polarisation or 'othering', analogies, examples, maxims, metaphors and figurative speech. We also find evidence of interdiscursivity with most participants drawing on more than one discourse when speaking about how substances are positioned as providing enhancement.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that the concept of enhancement has wider applicability than current understandings allow. We argue that if we reframe all substance use as providing enhancement or achieving a self-improvement goal, we have the potential to destigmatise substance use and eliminate the over-simplistic binaries that surround it.

Hidden and uninterested populations: Methodological insights and unresolved issues from the study of Cannabis Social Clubs

Cannabis Social Clubs are typically non-profit associations established by adult users of cannabis, which produce and distribute cannabis among their members. Such associations can be found in several European countries and beyond, but with exception of Uruguay, they are illegal or otherwise operate at the margins of domestic drug control legislation, at risk for law enforcement detection. We have conducted several individual and collaborative studies on Cannabis Social Clubs and their key actors (e.g. Cannabis Social Clubs leaders, users affiliated as members, cannabis growers, other stakeholders), primarily drawing on qualitative methods (e.g. ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, qualitative media analyses) but also employing a quantitative approach (e.g. online surveys). In this article, we reflect on the research experiences of the authors in studying Cannabis Social Clubs, providing insights for future research in this area and within criminology and socio-legal studies. In particular, we aim to examine our approaches with regard to the recruitment of participants and research design, identifying good practices, but also discussing what the less successful strategies were. We draw on research conducted since 2014 in different countries, with different legal frameworks, which provides an opportunity for a comparative and more in-depth critical consideration of what might be helpful ways of reaching and researching hard-to-reach populations.

'I could have went down a different path': Talking to people who used drugs problematically and service providers about Irish drug policy alternatives

BACKGROUND

People who use drugs problematically are consistently left out of consultations and deliberation on drug policy. This article explores how people who formerly used drugs problematically and service providers view Ireland's current drug policy and if alternative policies could be successful in an Irish context.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight people who used drugs problematically and six practitioners working with people who use drugs in Cork city, Ireland. All people who used drugs problematically had at least one year of abstinence and had been criminalised because of their drug use, all but one had served at least one custodial sentence. Participants were asked their opinions on safe injecting facilities, heroin assisted treatment, decriminalisation of drugs for personal use, depenalisation of cannabis and, the relationships between economic deprivation and problematic drug use.

RESULTS

Respondents stressed that, in Cork city, problematic drug use is closely linked with economic deprivation and social exclusion. There was a near consensus that criminalisation and penalisation do not deter consumption and produce unintended consequences. All participants supported safe injecting facilities and the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use. Participants were less certain about the utility of heroin assisted treatment and depenalisation of cannabis. Many discussions drifted away from alternatives policies towards the need for improved treatment provision.

CONCLUSION

Several participants were clear that none of the alternative policies discussed are silver bullets. Participates felt that, while they could reduce the harms caused by drugs and drug policies, the government's longer-term objectives should be increased treatment provision and, reduced social exclusion and economic deprivation.