scholarly journals Gang Talk and Strategic Moralisations in Danish Drug Policy Discourses on Young and Recreational Drug Users

2021 ◽  
pp. 161-181
Author(s):  
Thomas Friis Søgaard ◽  
Frank Søgaard Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Recreational Drug ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Recreational Use ◽  
Policy Discourses

In Denmark, a moralization of recreational use of drugs has lately occurred. The use is interpreted in a neo-liberal framing seeing the user who can chose as selfish, not regarding the negative consequences of drug use in a wider sense, and the legislation has been sharpened.

scholarly journals Men and the Drug Buzz: Masculinity and Men’s Motivations for Illicit Recreational Drug Use

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clay Darcy
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Recreational Drug ◽  
Treatment Services ◽  
Recreational Drug Use ◽  
Problem Drug Use ◽  
Recreational Use ◽  
Problem Drug

The purpose of this article is to explore the motivations behind some men’s recreational use of illicit drugs from a gender standpoint. The rationale for this analysis stems from men’s predominance as illicit drug users and their likelihood of experiencing problem drug use and becoming a part of an over-represented population in drug treatment services. Explanations for men’s problematic/addicted patterns of drug use often point to marginalisation, disadvantage, and/or men’s tendency towards problematic health behaviours. This article argues that men’s illicit recreational drug use is often glossed over as a gendered activity and receives less scrutiny than problematic/addicted patterns of drug taking. It examines the drug-taking motivations of 20 Irish men who identified as illicit recreational drug users to expand on and deepen current explanations for men’s illicit recreational drug use. The article demonstrates how men engage in drug use for complex and contradictory reasons that include embodied quests for pleasure and excitement, achieving connection with other men, and performing or contravening masculinities in homosocial contexts.

Recreational Prescription Drug Use Among College Students

NASPA Journal ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan A Kolek
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Prescription Drug ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Research University ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Prescription Drug Use ◽  
Other Substances

The purpose of this study was to explore recreational prescription drug use among undergraduate students. Although anecdotal accounts on this subject abound, empirical research is extremely limited. Data from a survey of a random sample of 734 students at a large public research university in the Northeast were examined. Results indicate that a substantial proportion of students reported having used prescription drugs for recreational purposes in the year prior to survey administration. Recreational prescription drug use was positively associated with the use of other substances including alcohol. Recreational prescription drug users were also more likely than other drug users to report negative consequences as a result of their drug use. Implications for future research and for student affairs are discussed.

The Historical and Social Context

Hurt ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Boeri
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Coming Of Age ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Private Lives ◽  
The 1960S

Drug use and drug policy do not happen in a social vacuum. This chapter shows how the social and historical context shaped drug use patterns as a figurative war became literal one. Coming of age during the “peace and love” era of the 1960s, early baby boomers encountered an increasingly punitive drug policy as they aged in adulthood. Mass incarceration left many drug users with a criminal record and limited options for employment. The financial security needed for a stable family life became unattainable for many, and divorce rates increased, with no social safety net for single-parent homes. Working-class and middle-class jobs were replaced by low-paying service work. As fewer boomers could achieve the American Dream, the middle class was vanishing, and one drug epidemic was replaced by another in rapid succession. Law enforcement agencies were given more power over drug users, with minorities and the poor receiving the brunt of this aggressive infringement on their private lives.

scholarly journals 20 years of Portuguese drug policy - developments, challenges and the quest for human rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ximene RÊGO ◽  
Maria João OLIVEIRA ◽  
Catarina LAMEIRA ◽  
Olga S. CRUZ
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Local Data ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
The Public ◽  
Use Patterns ◽  
Drug Use Patterns

AbstractPortugal decriminalized the public and private use, acquisition, and possession of all drugs in 2000; adopting an approach focused on public health rather than public-order priorities. Arguing that the Portuguese Drug Policy Model has not proven influential enough to emancipate drug use from the stigma that associates it either with crime or pathology, this article critically discusses the developments and current challenges the Portuguese drug policy confronts, namely the growing diversity of drug use patterns observed in Portugal as well as in Europe. To this end, international and national legal instruments concerning drugs and official local data were analysed. Despite encouraging results, conclusions indicate that these policies are marked by contradictions and ambiguities that have permeated its history since the very beginning, and modest ambitions, particularly regarding the implementation of harm reduction measures. Moreover, the polemical Supreme Court judgment that reestablished, in 2008, drug use as a crime when the quantities at play exceeded those required for an average individual’s use for 10 days, might have impacted the landscape of drug use penalization. The last decade saw an increase of punitiveness targeted at drug users, including criminal sentences of jail terms. We finish with some suggestions that could be employed in the practical application of drug policy.

scholarly journals Evaluation of supervised injection facilities as an ethically sound approach to treatment of injection drug abuse

2017 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-69
Author(s):  
Katherine Fleshner ◽  
Matthew Greenacre
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Injection Drug Use ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Active Drug ◽  
Categorical Imperative ◽  
Injection Drug ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Drug Paraphernalia ◽  
Supervised Injection ◽  
Supervised Injection Facilities

Novel approaches are needed to address the issue of injection drug use in Canada, which can have negative consequences for drug users and society. Supervised injection facilities (SIFs) are legally sanctioned facilities in Canada where drug users can receive sterile drug paraphernalia, referral to cessation programs and timely medical care if necessary. SIFs operate under the principle of harm reduction, which aims to reduce rates of infection and death due to overdose among drug users. SIFs are largely driven by the utilitarian ideal of maximizing benefit for the greatest number of people, through supervision of active drug users and appropriate referral for those wishing to quit. Deontological theory may support SIFs depending on how one applies the categorical imperative. Studies of the first SIF in North America, Insite, have shown demonstrable reductions in adverse health and societal consequences of injection drug use, rationalizing their implementation under consequentialism. SIFs are, therefore, suitable for greater adoption by the healthcare system.

scholarly journals The Costs of Australian Drug Policy

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E Marks
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Annual Cost ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Illicit Drug ◽  
Total Annual Cost ◽  
Drug Laws ◽  
Aids Epidemic

Despite seventy years of increasing restrictions, and in the case of heroin almost forty years of absolute prohibition, by all measures the consumption of illegal drugs in Australia has continued to grow. Despite — or perhaps because of — these policies, the costs of enforcement borne by the taxpayer and other costs borne by residents at large have continued to grow. The AIDS epidemic exposed injecting drug users (IDUs) and their partners to the risk of HIV infection, a further cost, but it has encouraged discussion of the effectiveness of the existing policy and the feasibility of alternatives. This study is an attempt to put dollar amounts on these costs, and to estimate how they would change under an alternative policy of drug use regulation. We argue that the recent Cleeland Report underestimates the true costs of the law enforcement against illicit drug use by a factor of at least two. We estimate a total annual cost of existing drug laws in 1987–88 to Australia of $950 million, as well as forced transfers of $656 million.

Cognitive Inductions into Treatment among Drug Users on Probation

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 669-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Farabee ◽  
D. Dwayne Simpson ◽  
Donald Dansereau ◽  
Kevin Knight
Keyword(s):  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Treatment Motivation ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Motivational Readiness ◽  
Residential Treatment Facility ◽  
Induction Group ◽  
Induction Strategy ◽  
Acclimation Period ◽  
External Pressures

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of a cognitive tool designed to enhance drug treatment motivation among a sample of drug users on probation in a residential treatment facility (N = 33). The task involved listing the negative consequences of drug use as well as the positive consequences of abstinence as they relate to seven “divisions of the self” (e.g., social, mental, behavioral, physical, emotional, motivational, and spiritual/philosophical). Although performing this cognitive induction task within the first 10 days of treatment (immediate induction) did not appear to enhance motivational readiness for treatment, a comparison group receiving the induction strategy 1 month after entering treatment (delayed induction) scored significantly higher on motivational indices than did those in the immediate induction group. It is suggested that involuntary treatment recipients require a brief acclimation period before shifting their focus from external pressures (e.g., reacting against authority and newly imposed structure) to internal events (e.g., personal evaluation of the consequences of drug use).

scholarly journals Health-Related Quality Of Life And Its Determinants Among Recreational Drug Users In A Rural Area In Cameroon: A Cross-Sectional Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atabong Emmanuel Njingu ◽  
Fombo Enjeh Jabbossung ◽  
Nyuydzedze Stanley Sunjo ◽  
Stephen Eyong Njang Ayongi ◽  
Nembulefac Derick Kemndah
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Recreational Drug ◽  
Recreational Drugs ◽  
Health Related Quality ◽  
Recreational Drug Use ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related

Abstract Background This study was aimed to evaluate the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its drivers among recreational drug users, compared to non-users using WHOQOL-BREF. Methods A total of 246 recreational drug users and 141 non-recreational drug users were recruited using consecutive sampling of adults in the community. Socio-demographic data, data related to recreational drug use and HRQoL were collected. Data were compared using t-test, analysis of variance and chi-square test. Determinants of HRQoL were obtained using multivariate regression models. Results The mean overall quality of life (OQOL) score was significantly higher for non-recreational drug users compared to users (75.89 ± 22.64 vs 61.08 ± 23.94, respectively, p < 0.001), non-users as well had significantly higher mean scores across all four domains of WHOQOL-BREF. After multivariable adjustment, use of recreational drugs negatively affected the psychological domain (β=-4.17, 95% CI -8.22 to -0,13) and the environmental domain (β=-4.47, 95% CI -8.48 to -0.45). Years of recreational drug use affected the social relationship domain (β=-0.55, 95% CI -0.88 to -0.22), OQOL (β=-0.57, 95% CI -0.94 to -0.19), and general health satisfaction (β=-0.71, 95% CI -1.08 to -0.35). Number of recreational drugs used contributed to poorer physical health (β=-1.45, 95% CI -2.57 to -0.33), psychological domain (β=-2.04, 95% CI -3.18 to -0.91), social relationship domain (β=-1.87, 95% CI -3.39 to -0.35) as well as overall quality of life (β=-2.13, 95% CI -3.89 to -0.37). Besides recreational drugs, monthly income also affected physical health (β = 5.17, 95% CI 2.96 to 7.38), psychological domain (β = 3.34, 95% CI 1.10 to 5.58), environmental domain (β = 2.64, 95% CI 0.42 to 4.85) and also the OQOL (β = 4.16, 95% CI 0.70 to 7.62). Conclusions Our findings suggest that, recreational drugs significantly negatively affect the health-related quality of life of its users. People who use multiple recreational drugs and longer years of recreational drug use had a more widespread effect across the health domains. Higher monthly income could improve the HRQoL of recreational drug users.

The Swedish Drug Policy – a Restrictive and Successful Model?

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 179-193
Author(s):  
Henrik Tham
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Drug Policy ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Case Finding ◽  
Drug Abusers ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Successful Model ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Officially, Swedish drug policy is proclaimed to be successful. The success, it is claimed, depends on the implementation of a “restrictive” – in comparison to the 1960s and 1970s – drug policy in Sweden today. The question addressed in the article is whether the strict drug policy has led to less harm from narcotics than earlier. The analysis of the development of drug use is based upon case-finding studies, time series on sentenced persons, drug use among young people, and deaths as a result of drug use, among other things. According to available data, the success of the Swedish drug policy cannot be established by counting the number of drug abusers; the number increased during the 1980s. When it comes to the number of new drug users, a decrease was especially noticeable during the less strict 1970s. Whether there is a decrease also during the 1980s is a matter of interpretation, since different data sets give partly different answers. The uncertain and limited decrease in the costs of drug consumption since the beginning of the 1980s must be seen in relation to the clearly increased costs for the control of drugs. Such costs are connected to the disregard for law, increased use of limited law enforcement resources, increased use of compulsory treatment, more and longer prison sentences, and, possibly, increased mortality among drug abusers. The repressive features have become clearer. The conclusion must therefore be that the official description of Swedish drug policy as a restrictive and successful model hardly is supported by neither the terminology nor data.

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