The Changing Context of Production of Knowledge in the Drugs Field

Abstract

Knowledge produced by research in the fields of social sciences, psychology, law and medicine is a main ingredient in the construction of science-based knowledge on which we want to base current drug policy. This thematic issue of Contemporary Drug Problems is devoted to exploring the context of the construction of knowledge in the drugs field and to describing and analyzing recent changes in the science-- policy relationship. Large-scale processes such as Europeanization, modernization, privatization, individualization and decentralization each can contribute to changes in the context of production of knowledge. The papers in this issue show how production of knowledge and construction of evidence are influenced by these large-scale processes. We all know that interpretations and the balance of influence between different interests are important when science-based knowledge is constructed. Our aim is to give insight into how it is constructed. How is the science-policy relationship formed by institutional forces? What role has research-based knowledge played in policy-making in the drugs field? Do we see new roles in the future? The access of research-based knowledge into the construction of policy is dependent on the institutional and historical context in which this knowledge is produced. The articles present experiences from the Nordic countries, from Britain, and from the European Union. The golden triangle between the state, the citizens and the experts is constructed differently in national traditions and in international institutions. What is common is that research in the drug and alcohol fields has been quite closely tied to public administration and policy-making structures. Political changes therefore impact on the questions asked in research. When hierarchies in the political system change, the research in the drugs field changes as well. We want to elaborate on how institutional constraints determine the influence of research-based knowledge and form the process of production in itself, including the choice of methods and informants. Institutional constraints determine identification, norms and values among the participants. The questions raised in the papers can to a variable extent be tied to the processes of decentralization, Europeanization and modernization. These processes impact on ideologies and formal structures that change the context of production of knowledge. These processes are interwoven; our aim is to identify some effects of the processes and to reflect on the situation for research-based knowledge in the present context. Decentralization and the change in public health policy The dismantling of the model of centralized prevention directed toward the whole population was very clear in Nordic alcohol policy during the 1990s. Marja Holmila gives an introduction into the history of research on communitybased intervention in the wake of the political change that took place during this period. This political change represents a change in the context for production of knowledge. First, the decentralization process contributes to an increasing concentration on treatment instead of on primary prevention. At local levels, risk groups are given priority. Holmila furthermore gives an overview of the growth of the new research field that has developed as a result of the increasing activity in community-based interventions. This shift of focus from the national population to risk groups is a part of the spread of a post-addiction model, described by Robin Bunton. While Holmila identifies future needs of research on the meaning of community ties and a new understanding of the concept of prevention, Bunton points out the absence of everyday knowledge in our understanding of drug use. When the focus changes from the whole population to individual identities and preferences, there is a need for new methods and perhaps other research traditions. Decentralization is a process that goes together with an increasing focus on the individual instead of on national citizenship. …