Pub Date : 2023-10-03DOI: 10.1177/00914509231204947
Trent Bax
As part of an interview-based qualitative study on the life-course of people who formally used methamphetamine in Aotearoa-New Zealand, this paper uses Deleuze and Guattari's rhizomatic perspective to trace the specific effects and particular relations involved in methamphetamine use. The methamphetamine-using trajectory for the 42 former users is a multifaceted and constantly fluctuating process involving multiple entries, exists, pathways, and restarts. By amplifying and enlightening the user, methamphetamine use begins by liberating desire through sending the user “out the gate,” but long-term high-dose use can end up constraining and repressing subjectivity and cyclically producing adverse psychological, emotional, interpersonal, and social effects. As a metamorphic process that produces transformative change, long-term high-dose methamphetamine use is a nonlinear rollercoaster ride that typically leads to a downward spiral whereby life stagnates, shrinks, or regresses. By undermining productive and transformative connections, the life of the long-term high-dose methamphetamine user typically—but not inevitably—involves revolving instead of evolving. Against a linear and deterministic popular media-generated narrative about methamphetamine use, a rhizomatic perspective emphasizes the potential for transformation by focusing upon the situational and interactional processes involved in users who undergo complex and varied temporary changes. From Deleuze and Guattari's perspective, disentangling from long-term high-dose methamphetamine use requires activating new relationships and possibilities for desire by forming meaningful biopsychosocial connections.
{"title":"Out the Gate: Towards a Rhizomatic Understanding of Methamphetamine Use in Aotearoa-New Zealand","authors":"Trent Bax","doi":"10.1177/00914509231204947","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231204947","url":null,"abstract":"As part of an interview-based qualitative study on the life-course of people who formally used methamphetamine in Aotearoa-New Zealand, this paper uses Deleuze and Guattari's rhizomatic perspective to trace the specific effects and particular relations involved in methamphetamine use. The methamphetamine-using trajectory for the 42 former users is a multifaceted and constantly fluctuating process involving multiple entries, exists, pathways, and restarts. By amplifying and enlightening the user, methamphetamine use begins by liberating desire through sending the user “out the gate,” but long-term high-dose use can end up constraining and repressing subjectivity and cyclically producing adverse psychological, emotional, interpersonal, and social effects. As a metamorphic process that produces transformative change, long-term high-dose methamphetamine use is a nonlinear rollercoaster ride that typically leads to a downward spiral whereby life stagnates, shrinks, or regresses. By undermining productive and transformative connections, the life of the long-term high-dose methamphetamine user typically—but not inevitably—involves revolving instead of evolving. Against a linear and deterministic popular media-generated narrative about methamphetamine use, a rhizomatic perspective emphasizes the potential for transformation by focusing upon the situational and interactional processes involved in users who undergo complex and varied temporary changes. From Deleuze and Guattari's perspective, disentangling from long-term high-dose methamphetamine use requires activating new relationships and possibilities for desire by forming meaningful biopsychosocial connections.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"85 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135696623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-03DOI: 10.1177/00914509231204963
Lillian Bruland Selseng, Margaret Stroebe, Sari Kaarina Lindeman, Kari Dyregrov
Drug-related deaths (DRDs) are a major societal challenge. People who use drugs are at particular risk of witnessing DRDs, and of losing people close to them to a DRD, and experiencing an overdose or other health issues themselves. People who experience sudden, unexpected, and stigmatized deaths, such as DRDs, are found to struggle more afterward than when the death is more natural and expected. Additionally, people who use drugs are more likely to experience a complicated grieving process following the loss of someone. Despite this, knowledge about the connections between a person's own drug use and reaction following bereavement from a DRD is scarce. This article makes a start at filling this knowledge gap. Based on interviews with people who used drugs and were bereaved following DRDs, the article explores how the bereaved spoke about the relationship between their drug use and losing a close friend or intimate partner to a DRD. We present four types of stories about the relationship between grief following DRDs and drug use. Informed by the Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement, we discuss the stories and highlight how drug use is used to handle emotional overload, how drug use leads to uncommon expressions of grief, and how the relationship between grief and drug use may lead to an avoidance of the reality of loss. We point out that drug use and grief are strongly intertwined and how stigma associated with DRDs and drug use creates obstacles to openness and relating to social networks in support processes.
{"title":"Grieving a Drug-Related Death in the Context of One's Own Drug Use: An Exploratory Study","authors":"Lillian Bruland Selseng, Margaret Stroebe, Sari Kaarina Lindeman, Kari Dyregrov","doi":"10.1177/00914509231204963","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231204963","url":null,"abstract":"Drug-related deaths (DRDs) are a major societal challenge. People who use drugs are at particular risk of witnessing DRDs, and of losing people close to them to a DRD, and experiencing an overdose or other health issues themselves. People who experience sudden, unexpected, and stigmatized deaths, such as DRDs, are found to struggle more afterward than when the death is more natural and expected. Additionally, people who use drugs are more likely to experience a complicated grieving process following the loss of someone. Despite this, knowledge about the connections between a person's own drug use and reaction following bereavement from a DRD is scarce. This article makes a start at filling this knowledge gap. Based on interviews with people who used drugs and were bereaved following DRDs, the article explores how the bereaved spoke about the relationship between their drug use and losing a close friend or intimate partner to a DRD. We present four types of stories about the relationship between grief following DRDs and drug use. Informed by the Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement, we discuss the stories and highlight how drug use is used to handle emotional overload, how drug use leads to uncommon expressions of grief, and how the relationship between grief and drug use may lead to an avoidance of the reality of loss. We point out that drug use and grief are strongly intertwined and how stigma associated with DRDs and drug use creates obstacles to openness and relating to social networks in support processes.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135695790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-01Epub Date: 2023-06-22DOI: 10.1177/00914509231183147
Marilou Gagnon, Alayna Payne, Zach Walsh, Adrian Guta, Carol Strike
Community-based models of cannabis cultivation, distribution, and consumption-such as cannabis clubs-have been documented across Europe, North America, South America, and New Zealand since the 1990s. For the most part, these models have a history of operating outside existing legislation and regulations. Jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis have approached community-based models in opposite ways (eliminate vs. regulate). Canada legalizing cannabis has resulted in more stringent enforcement and concerted efforts to close these models despite documented health and social benefits. This paper presents a case study of the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club (VCBC) and its consumption space-The Box. We conducted a survey of VCBC members to explore four domains: demographics, cannabis consumption, access to and use of The Box, and the impact of its temporary closure due to COVID-19. From the survey data (n = 104), descriptive statistics were generated and three conceptual avenues were identified. The majority of respondents were 40 years old and older and identified as White (European descent) cisgendered men and women. The majority reported an income of $40,000 or less and a housing status that prevented them from smoking. Close to 75% of our sample consumed cannabis multidaily for therapeutic purposes primarily, but also for a mix of recreation, social, spiritual, and traditional healing purposes. Smoking was the preferred mode of consumption. Respondents accessed The Box daily or weekly. Reasons and benefits for using The Box fell into three categories: public health, harm reduction, and wellness perspectives. Conceptually, we found that The Box acted as a therapeutic space and offered a much-needed consumption space for smokers. We also identified a need to unpack the concept of safety. Overall, the survey reinforces the need for an equity-informed approach to community-based models and cannabis consumption spaces in Canada.
{"title":"\"The Box Has Become an Indispensable Part of My Life\": A Case Study of Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club and its Consumption Space.","authors":"Marilou Gagnon, Alayna Payne, Zach Walsh, Adrian Guta, Carol Strike","doi":"10.1177/00914509231183147","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00914509231183147","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Community-based models of cannabis cultivation, distribution, and consumption-such as cannabis clubs-have been documented across Europe, North America, South America, and New Zealand since the 1990s. For the most part, these models have a history of operating outside existing legislation and regulations. Jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis have approached community-based models in opposite ways (eliminate vs. regulate). Canada legalizing cannabis has resulted in more stringent enforcement and concerted efforts to close these models despite documented health and social benefits. This paper presents a case study of the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club (VCBC) and its consumption space-The Box. We conducted a survey of VCBC members to explore four domains: demographics, cannabis consumption, access to and use of The Box, and the impact of its temporary closure due to COVID-19. From the survey data (<i>n</i> = 104), descriptive statistics were generated and three conceptual avenues were identified. The majority of respondents were 40 years old and older and identified as White (European descent) cisgendered men and women. The majority reported an income of $40,000 or less and a housing status that prevented them from smoking. Close to 75% of our sample consumed cannabis multidaily for therapeutic purposes primarily, but also for a mix of recreation, social, spiritual, and traditional healing purposes. Smoking was the preferred mode of consumption. Respondents accessed The Box daily or weekly. Reasons and benefits for using The Box fell into three categories: public health, harm reduction, and wellness perspectives. Conceptually, we found that The Box acted as a therapeutic space and offered a much-needed consumption space for smokers. We also identified a need to unpack the concept of safety. Overall, the survey reinforces the need for an equity-informed approach to community-based models and cannabis consumption spaces in Canada.</p>","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"50 3","pages":"426-450"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10504615/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10286540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-25DOI: 10.1177/00914509231189934
James Morgan, T. Bennett
While existing research has tended to focus on specific drug user groups, the current paper explores how people who use heroin might move between such groups over time. Building on previous research that has identified types of heroin-using lifestyles, we investigate the nature and extent of lifestyle transitions from one type to another. In doing so, we examine the implications that lifestyle transitions might have for drug use as well as harm-reduction strategies and treatment. The research was based on a sample of 51 people who use heroin interviewed for a study into persistent heroin use, 38 of whom provided data relating to transitions between heroin-using lifestyles. Participants in the study explained changes in their lifestyles through three distinct narrative themes: grabbing onto ‘hooks for change’, ‘taking an opportunity’, and ‘losing control’. The findings also show how, through case studies, the nature and implications of lifestyle transitions can be wide ranging. While such explanations for change have been identified in criminological and substance use literature, they have not, to our knowledge, been used to understand changes within heroin-using careers. Further theoretical work to develop these concepts and advance understanding of persistent heroin use is encouraged, as is using these concepts to inform policy and practice.
{"title":"The Nature and Implications of Lifestyle Transitions for Persistent Heroin Use","authors":"James Morgan, T. Bennett","doi":"10.1177/00914509231189934","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231189934","url":null,"abstract":"While existing research has tended to focus on specific drug user groups, the current paper explores how people who use heroin might move between such groups over time. Building on previous research that has identified types of heroin-using lifestyles, we investigate the nature and extent of lifestyle transitions from one type to another. In doing so, we examine the implications that lifestyle transitions might have for drug use as well as harm-reduction strategies and treatment. The research was based on a sample of 51 people who use heroin interviewed for a study into persistent heroin use, 38 of whom provided data relating to transitions between heroin-using lifestyles. Participants in the study explained changes in their lifestyles through three distinct narrative themes: grabbing onto ‘hooks for change’, ‘taking an opportunity’, and ‘losing control’. The findings also show how, through case studies, the nature and implications of lifestyle transitions can be wide ranging. While such explanations for change have been identified in criminological and substance use literature, they have not, to our knowledge, been used to understand changes within heroin-using careers. Further theoretical work to develop these concepts and advance understanding of persistent heroin use is encouraged, as is using these concepts to inform policy and practice.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45467261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1177/00914509231179226
Benjamin Scher, S. Neufeld, Amanda Butler, M. Bonn, Naomi Zakimi, Jack Farrell, A. Greer
Introduction In light of North America's persisting drug toxicity crisis, alternative drug policy approaches such as decriminalization, legalization, regulation, and safer supply have increasingly come to the forefront of drug policy discourse. The views of people who use drugs toward drug policy and drug law reform in the Canadian context are essential, yet largely missing from the conversation. The aim of this study was to capture the opinions, ideas, and attitudes of people who use drugs toward Canadian drug laws and potential future alternatives. Methods This paper was developed as part of the Canadian Drug Laws Project, a cross-jurisdictional qualitative study conducted in British Columbia, Canada between July and September 2020. The qualitative data are from 24 semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of people who use illegal drugs. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically by the research team. Results Two main themes and corresponding sub-themes are presented: (1) The experience of stigma as a consequence of criminalization; (2) The perceived benefits of drug law reform. Participants spoke in-depth about their experiences living within a criminalized drug policy context and offered suggestions for new pathways forward. Their perspectives illuminate how Canada's drug laws may shape public attitudes toward people who use drugs and the consequent manifestations of structural, social, and self-stigma experienced by people who use drugs. Conclusion Participants openly and profoundly believed that current drug laws produced and propagated the public attitudes and structural inequities experienced by people who use drugs in Canada. This matters, not only because our findings highlight the fact that people who use drugs experience stigma in tangible and clearly impactful ways, but it also suggests that the criminlilization of drugs shapes the experience of structural, social, and self stigma. Finally, participants believed that efforts to destigmatize people who use drugs would be ineffectual without the enactment of more robust forms of drug law reform such as the decriminalization of illegal drugs.
{"title":"“Criminalization Causes the Stigma”: Perspectives From People Who Use Drugs","authors":"Benjamin Scher, S. Neufeld, Amanda Butler, M. Bonn, Naomi Zakimi, Jack Farrell, A. Greer","doi":"10.1177/00914509231179226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231179226","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction In light of North America's persisting drug toxicity crisis, alternative drug policy approaches such as decriminalization, legalization, regulation, and safer supply have increasingly come to the forefront of drug policy discourse. The views of people who use drugs toward drug policy and drug law reform in the Canadian context are essential, yet largely missing from the conversation. The aim of this study was to capture the opinions, ideas, and attitudes of people who use drugs toward Canadian drug laws and potential future alternatives. Methods This paper was developed as part of the Canadian Drug Laws Project, a cross-jurisdictional qualitative study conducted in British Columbia, Canada between July and September 2020. The qualitative data are from 24 semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of people who use illegal drugs. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically by the research team. Results Two main themes and corresponding sub-themes are presented: (1) The experience of stigma as a consequence of criminalization; (2) The perceived benefits of drug law reform. Participants spoke in-depth about their experiences living within a criminalized drug policy context and offered suggestions for new pathways forward. Their perspectives illuminate how Canada's drug laws may shape public attitudes toward people who use drugs and the consequent manifestations of structural, social, and self-stigma experienced by people who use drugs. Conclusion Participants openly and profoundly believed that current drug laws produced and propagated the public attitudes and structural inequities experienced by people who use drugs in Canada. This matters, not only because our findings highlight the fact that people who use drugs experience stigma in tangible and clearly impactful ways, but it also suggests that the criminlilization of drugs shapes the experience of structural, social, and self stigma. Finally, participants believed that efforts to destigmatize people who use drugs would be ineffectual without the enactment of more robust forms of drug law reform such as the decriminalization of illegal drugs.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"50 1","pages":"402 - 425"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41896132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/00914509231161173
{"title":"Corrigendum to “‘There’s No Sense to It’: A Posthumanist Ethnography of Agency in Methamphetamine Recovery”","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/00914509231161173","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231161173","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"50 1","pages":"294 - 294"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43268628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-01DOI: 10.1177/00914509231178937
G. Dertadian, J. Rance
This article explores the differential coverage of drug overdose death in three major Australian newspapers between 2015 and 2020. It outlines the number of articles, the types of voices, and emotional collectives drawn on in three types of overdose death stories: those related to injecting drug use, pharmaceuticals (largely opioids), and those that occurred at music festivals. Our analysis finds that in each newspaper festival deaths are reported on more than other types of overdose stories, even though deaths in the other categories represent significantly larger loss of life. Beyond the number of articles written about each type of overdose, our analysis pays attention to emotional collectives, such as pity, surprise, and grief, and how these constitute the overdose victim. We argue that the differential media treatment of overdose deaths—depending on substance involved, social circumstance—is intimately (if implicitly) linked to a differential valuing of human life. We explore the way people who die of an overdose exist on a spectrum, from those who are visible and valued subjects in media coverage (the grievable), to those who are abject and already lost (the ungrievable). Finally, our analysis finds that proximity to White and middle-class culture structures the way the lives of overdose victims are (re)produced as lives worth grieving in media coverage.
{"title":"Lives Worth Grieving: Differential Coverage of Overdose Deaths in Australian News Media (2015–2020)","authors":"G. Dertadian, J. Rance","doi":"10.1177/00914509231178937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231178937","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the differential coverage of drug overdose death in three major Australian newspapers between 2015 and 2020. It outlines the number of articles, the types of voices, and emotional collectives drawn on in three types of overdose death stories: those related to injecting drug use, pharmaceuticals (largely opioids), and those that occurred at music festivals. Our analysis finds that in each newspaper festival deaths are reported on more than other types of overdose stories, even though deaths in the other categories represent significantly larger loss of life. Beyond the number of articles written about each type of overdose, our analysis pays attention to emotional collectives, such as pity, surprise, and grief, and how these constitute the overdose victim. We argue that the differential media treatment of overdose deaths—depending on substance involved, social circumstance—is intimately (if implicitly) linked to a differential valuing of human life. We explore the way people who die of an overdose exist on a spectrum, from those who are visible and valued subjects in media coverage (the grievable), to those who are abject and already lost (the ungrievable). Finally, our analysis finds that proximity to White and middle-class culture structures the way the lives of overdose victims are (re)produced as lives worth grieving in media coverage.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"50 1","pages":"361 - 380"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47738751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-30DOI: 10.1177/00914509231178940
Robin van der Sanden, C. Wilkins, M. Rychert, M. Barratt
Background Existing studies have highlighted the potential for increased drug market risks from buying drugs via social media involving strangers, such as receiving adulterated drugs or being robbed. However, social supply-driven social media drug markets may also offer enhanced social dealing and harm reduction opportunities. Aim To explore how social media platform features that enable expanded social networking may also support safer social drug dealing and other harm-reduction behaviors. Method Thematic analysis of anonymous online interviews with 33 people who buy and sell drugs via social media in New Zealand. Results Participants (median age 24; 22 male, 10 female, 1 gender diverse) accessing drugs via social media mostly utilized established social networks. These personal networks offered many benefits commonly associated with social media drug trading (i.e., safer and secure drug purchasing). Benefits included reducing the risk of receiving adulterated substances and being victimized. Social media affordances, which participants used to expand their everyday social networks, could also increase participants’ ability to leverage a broader social drug supply network and access related harm reduction benefits. Some participants used darknet markets to buy drugs, which they then resold to “friends” via social media platforms, facilitating supply channels that were largely “separated” from local physical drug markets and associated problems of fraud, violence, and organized crime. Conclusion Social media drug markets offer a range of harm reduction benefits that contribute to a lower-risk local drug market. We suggest this may reflect a closer alignment between social media platform affordances and their adaptation to social supply drug trading.
{"title":"Social Supply and the Potential for Harm Reduction in Social Media Drug Markets","authors":"Robin van der Sanden, C. Wilkins, M. Rychert, M. Barratt","doi":"10.1177/00914509231178940","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231178940","url":null,"abstract":"Background Existing studies have highlighted the potential for increased drug market risks from buying drugs via social media involving strangers, such as receiving adulterated drugs or being robbed. However, social supply-driven social media drug markets may also offer enhanced social dealing and harm reduction opportunities. Aim To explore how social media platform features that enable expanded social networking may also support safer social drug dealing and other harm-reduction behaviors. Method Thematic analysis of anonymous online interviews with 33 people who buy and sell drugs via social media in New Zealand. Results Participants (median age 24; 22 male, 10 female, 1 gender diverse) accessing drugs via social media mostly utilized established social networks. These personal networks offered many benefits commonly associated with social media drug trading (i.e., safer and secure drug purchasing). Benefits included reducing the risk of receiving adulterated substances and being victimized. Social media affordances, which participants used to expand their everyday social networks, could also increase participants’ ability to leverage a broader social drug supply network and access related harm reduction benefits. Some participants used darknet markets to buy drugs, which they then resold to “friends” via social media platforms, facilitating supply channels that were largely “separated” from local physical drug markets and associated problems of fraud, violence, and organized crime. Conclusion Social media drug markets offer a range of harm reduction benefits that contribute to a lower-risk local drug market. We suggest this may reflect a closer alignment between social media platform affordances and their adaptation to social supply drug trading.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"50 1","pages":"381 - 401"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47458951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-22DOI: 10.1177/00914509231173435
F. Scheibein, M. Van Hout, S. Henriques, J. Wells
Online drug use pornography has been freely available through websites on the open internet for at least 7 years. Surprisingly there is almost no exploration of its nature, character or impacts on both performers and those engaging with this type of content within the research literature. Nor is it an issue that has engaged health care providers and other statutory and non-statutory agencies even though it may have implications within their respective domains. A preliminary scoping of the online environment is used to propose a theoretical framework that combines Goffman's performance theory with that of Turner and Schechner's positioning of ritual theory within performance theory, Butler's concept of performativity online and Luppichi's concept of the ‘technoself’. Utilising the proposed theoretical framework, it is postulated that the presence, performance and engagement of online drug use pornography is a social boundary testing and possibly breaking performance centred on iterative relationships between performer and consumers of this content.
{"title":"Virtually Hidden: A Theoretical Framework for Understanding and Conceptualising Online Drug Use Pornography","authors":"F. Scheibein, M. Van Hout, S. Henriques, J. Wells","doi":"10.1177/00914509231173435","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231173435","url":null,"abstract":"Online drug use pornography has been freely available through websites on the open internet for at least 7 years. Surprisingly there is almost no exploration of its nature, character or impacts on both performers and those engaging with this type of content within the research literature. Nor is it an issue that has engaged health care providers and other statutory and non-statutory agencies even though it may have implications within their respective domains. A preliminary scoping of the online environment is used to propose a theoretical framework that combines Goffman's performance theory with that of Turner and Schechner's positioning of ritual theory within performance theory, Butler's concept of performativity online and Luppichi's concept of the ‘technoself’. Utilising the proposed theoretical framework, it is postulated that the presence, performance and engagement of online drug use pornography is a social boundary testing and possibly breaking performance centred on iterative relationships between performer and consumers of this content.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"50 1","pages":"350 - 360"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46008054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-27DOI: 10.1177/00914509231170773
D. Lee, Raffaello Antonino
Background: The current UK based study aimed to explore the experiences of individuals attending online mutual aid groups for alcohol use, while their face-to-face groups were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging evidence suggests that the pandemic and concomitant isolation is associated with elevated mental health problems. Furthermore, historical community-wide crises are associated with increases in alcohol consumption. Due to the paucity of qualitative research on the subjective experience of online mutual aid groups, an interpretative phenomenological analysis was undertaken to explore group members’ experiences. Methods: A sample of six eligible members of online alcohol mutual aid groups were recruited and completed semi-structured interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic between October 2020 and February 2021. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify key themes and evidenced with salient quotations. Results: The superordinate theme developing an understanding of the differences between face-to-face and online group proceedings was identified, which is presented and unpacked with evidential quotes. Conclusion: The study explicates group members’ perceived differences between online and face-to-face experiences. Some participants valued the increased control and anonymity of online groups, while others missed the profound intimate connection that face-to-face groups fostered. It is recommended that future provision is informed by service-user voice to develop an attunement with the subjectivity of mutual aid group members’ experiences.
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