Normalization Of Drug Use Research Articles

Examination of the Impact of Drug Legalization Policies on Crime Rates in Regions

This theoretical study examines the impacts of drug legalization on crime rates across various provinces of Iran, integrating theoretical frameworks with hypothetical findings presented by existing global literature on drug policy reform. Through qualitative analysis and insights from experts, the study identifies key issues, including the reduction of drug-related arrests, shifts in drug trafficking dynamics, improvements in public health, and concerns related to the normalization of drug use. By comparing these outcomes with similar cases in Portugal, the United States, and the Netherlands, this research highlights the complexity of the effects of drug legalization and emphasizes regional variations and the importance of multidisciplinary approaches in policy formulation. The analysis of the findings indicates that while drug legalization can offer significant benefits in terms of judicial relief and public health, careful examination of the social, legal, and enforcement challenges in the process of drug legalization is crucial. This study reveals the political, social, and legal implications and the inherent limitations of the theoretical approach to drug legalization within the context of Iran

“It’s on every corner”: assessing risk environments in Baltimore, MD using a racialized risk environment model

Physical, social, economic, and political environments can increase harm and risk among people who use drugs. These factors may be exacerbated in urban environments with a history of systemic inequality toward African Americans. However, racialized risk environment models have rarely been used within substance use research. To fill this gap, the current qualitative study sought to describe the racialized risk environment of an African American sample of 21 adults with a history of illicit drug use living in Baltimore, MD. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis to identify themes related to illicit drug use, neighborhood context, violence, social interactions, and income generation. Themes related to the physical (e.g., the increased visibility of drug markets), social (e.g., normalization of drug use within social networks), and economic (e.g., financial hardships) risk environments emerged from this sample. These perceptions and themes can aid in developing and refining substance use programming within racialized settings.

University students’ experiences of recreational class a drug taking and perspectives on personal, social and health education (PSHE) drug education

PurposeResearch suggests that student drug use is substantially higher than that of the general population and while the UK Government’s current Drug Strategy emphasises the importance of PSHE in preventing young people from becoming drug users, there is a lack of research investigating the longer-term effectiveness of drug prevention education, and students’ views using qualitative methods. The purpose of this paper is to gain a holistic understanding into university students’ lived experiences of recreational class A drug taking and the drug education taught in English secondary schools.Design/methodology/approachFive interviews with university students were undertaken and thematically analysed using an ideographic case study approach alongside a qualitative content analysis of publicly available drug education resources and policy documents.FindingsThe normalisation of drug taking at university and social micro-pressures to assimilate group norms were key contributing factors to participants’ drug use. While the content of drug education in PSHE is grounded in theory, its implementation is not.Originality/valueThis study extends upon existing theories of normalisation of drug use at university through the concept of micro-pressures to offer an explanation of the process by which students assimilate group norms through the implicit threat of not fitting in.

Opioid initiation and injection transition in rural northern New England: A mixed-methods approach

BackgroundIn rural northern New England, located in the northeastern United States, the overdose epidemic has accelerated with the introduction of fentanyl. Opioid initiation and transition to opioid injection have been studied in urban settings. Little is known about opioid initiation and transition to injection drug use in rural northern New England. MethodsThis mixed-methods study characterized opioid use and drug injection in 11 rural counties in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire between 2018 and 2019. People who use drugs completed audio computer-assisted self-interview surveys on substance use and risk behaviors (n = 589) and shared personal narratives through in-depth interviews (n = 22). The objective of the current study is to describe initiation of opioid use and drug injection in rural northern New England. ResultsMedian age of first injection was 22 years (interquartile range 18–28 years). Key themes from in-depth interviews that led to initiating drug injection included normalization of drug use in families and communities, experiencing trauma, and abrupt discontinuation of an opioid prescription. Other factors that led to a transition to injecting included lower cost, increased effect/ rush, greater availability of heroin/ fentanyl, and faster relief of withdrawal symptoms with injection. ConclusionsTrauma, normalization of drug use, over-prescribing of opioids, and abrupt discontinuation challenge people who use drugs in rural northern New England communities. Inadequate opioid tapering may increase transition to non-prescribed drug use. The extent and severity of traumatic experiences described highlights the importance of enhancing trauma-informed care in rural areas.

Negotiating space & drug use in emergency shelters with peer witness injection programs within the context of an overdose crisis: A qualitative study

Vancouver, Canada is experiencing an overdose crisis due to the proliferation of fentanyl and related analogues and novel overdose response interventions are being implemented across multiple high overdose risk environments, including emergency shelters. We draw on ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews to examine how social, structural, and physical contexts at two emergency shelters implementing a peer-based supervised injection intervention influenced injection drug use and overdose risks. Findings reveal that the implementation of this intervention reduced stigma and shame through the normalization of drug use in shelter spaces, and yet underlying social norms and material constraints led people to inject alone in non-designated injecting spaces. Whereas these spatial dynamics of injection drug use potentially increased overdose vulnerability, an emerging sense of collective responsibility in relation to the overdose crisis led to the routinization of peer witnessing practices across the shelter environment to extend the impact of the intervention.

Drugs of Abuse and Novel Psychoactive Substances at Outdoor Music Festivals in Colorado

ABSTRACTBackground: Drugs of abuse (DOA) are widely used in the United States and are ubiquitous at outdoor music festivals. Attendees at music festivals are at high-risk for novel psychoactive substance (NPS) use, which is becoming more prevalent worldwide. No U.S. studies have employed an qualitative approach to investigate the etiologies of both traditional DOA and NPS use amongst music festival attendees. Objectives: The objective of this study was to improve understanding of the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and practices of festival attendees using NPS and DOA. Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews of 171 attendees during the Sonic Bloom and Arise music festivals in Colorado in 2015 and 2016. Discrete variables were summarized with descriptive statistics. The anonymous, multi-domain interview documented the knowledge, attitudes beliefs, and practices underlying DOA use, which were analyzed with qualitative methods. Results: We enrolled 171 participants that endorsed DOA use at the festivals. Most were experienced DOA users, who perceived minimal risks associated with DOA and NPS use. Nearly all unanimously reported normalization of DOA at music festivals. Participants popularly cited empathogenic, entactogenic, and entheogenic effects of DOA as their primary motivations for use. NPS use was endorsed by 39.8% (n = 68) of respondents, all of whom identified as being experienced DOA users. Conclusions: This population of novel psychoactive substance users is primarily composed of experienced drug users that endorsed use because of low cost, minimal perceived risk, accessibility, and normalization of drug use at music festivals.

How social context impacts on the development, identification and treatment of mental and substance use disorders among young people - a qualitative study of health care workers.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with health care workers (n=37) from clinical settings including: primary care, secondary care and community agencies and analysed thematically using Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory to guide analysis. Health care workers' engagement with young people was influenced by the multilevel ecological systems within the individual's social context which included: the young person's immediate environment/'microsystem' (e.g., family relationships), personal relationships in the 'mesosystem' (e.g., peer and school relationships), external factors in the young person's local area context/'exosystem' (e.g., drug culture and criminality) and wider societal aspects in the 'macrosystem' (e.g., mental health policy, health care inequalities and stigma). In socioeconomically disadvantaged urban areas, social context, specifically the micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-system impact both on the young person's experience of mental health or substance use problems and services, which endeavour to address these problems. Interventions that effectively identify and treat these problems should reflect the additional challenges posed by such settings.

“They’re legal so they’re safe, right?” What did the legal status of BZP-party pills mean to young people in New Zealand?

Background The legislation on psychoactive substances has a role to play with regard to shaping social values and influencing the normalisation of drug use. In New Zealand from 2005 to 2008, benzylpiperazine-containing ‘legal’ party pills (BZP-party pills) were legally available for purchase, subject to controls around a minimum purchase age of 18 years, and prohibitions on free of charge distribution and advertising in certain media. This paper explores what their legal status communicated to young users. Methods Interviews and group discussions with young people ( n = 58) who had used BZP-party pills in the preceding 6 months. Results Data were collected between June and December 2006 via a series of interviews with individuals, ‘friendship’ pairs, and groups comprised of participants known to each other. Young people saw BZP-party pills as ‘safe’ and of good quality as they were legal/government sanctioned, but also thus of inferior strength, suggesting they could take more of them. However, after using them they often reviewed their view of their safety and quality due to varied experiences. Being legal for some people meant they could use the substances without breaking the law, or having to go to ‘dealers’. Their legal status also meant they were easily accessible and were seen to be ‘socially acceptable’, with some young people indicating they would be happy to discuss their use with their parents. However, social acceptability was, for some, a reason not to use them. Conclusion These data provide a unique insight into the tension between positive and negative harm reduction messages relating to the legal nature of psychoactive drugs and as such begin to fill an information void in this area. The legal status of these ‘party pills’ conveys mixed messages to young people and whilst being seen as potentially safe and of good quality, this often leads to higher than ‘recommended’ doses being used. Nevertheless, not breaking the law or having to access BZP-party pills from ‘dealers’, and being able to discuss their use with their parents are all potentially positive harm reduction issues.

Substance abuse among adolescents in urban slums of sambalpur.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO),(1) substance abuse is “persistent or sporadic drug use inconsistent with or unrelated to acceptable medical practice”. The miasma of urban slums makes adolescents vulnerable to this multi-dimensional problem. Recently, substance abuse has been increasing among children and adolescents as sizeable proportions of adolescents in many states of India experiment with drugs quite early in life. This risk of drug abuse in adolescents can be conceptualized by the “Modified Social Stress Model”.(2) The model proposes that an increased risk for drug use stems from distress + the normalization of drug use + the effect of drugs and a decreased risk of drug abuse due to social attachments + coping strategies + resources for their development. This study has unveiled the current social problem with the objective of assessing the prevalence and type of substances abused in the urban slums of Sambalpur, Orissa and the various predisposing factors leading to their abuse.

Dual-track drug policy: Normalization of the drug problem in Finland

This paper examines the reorganization of Finnish drug policy in the light of recent major changes. The analysis is inspired by writings of criminologist David Garland on crime control and governmental control strategies (Garland, ), and by the British drug debate on the normalization of drug use (Parker, ; Parker et al., ; Shiner & Newburn, ; South, 1999). Garland distinguishes between adaptive and non-adaptive social responses to crime. Adaptive responses generally lower the objectives of public policy because the goals seem unrealistic. If you cannot get the best, you can always strive for the good. Non-adaptive or repressive responses are needed to justify the image of the State as an efficient and competent actor. The conclusion of the paper is that, after a somewhat stormy debate in Finland around the turn of the century, the adaptive and non-adaptive responses have peacefully aligned with each other. This dual-track model has become the new paradigm in Finnish drug policy: Both harm reduction and criminal control approaches are now well established and expansive. Related trends are recognized also in other countries.

Is Hong Kong Experiencing Normalization of Adolescent Drug Use? Some Reflections on the Normalization Thesis

The upsurge of consumption of party drugs among adolescents in recent years in Hong Kong has been part of the global trend of adolescent recreational use of drugs at rave parties, discos and similar party settings. Scholars in Western societies have recently proposed the thesis of “normalization of adolescent drug use” to describe such a trend. The normalization thesis points at three major aspects of the normalization phenomenon, namely, a rapid increase of the prevalence of drug use in young people, the widespread popularity of recreational drug use that is closely linked with the recent arrival of dance club culture, and a receptive attitude towards drug use as a normal part of leisure. This article aims to examine whether the normalization thesis can be applied to analyze the situation of adolescent drug use in Hong Kong. Data are drawn from official statistics and a recent survey conducted in 2002–2004 of drug use of Hong Kong marginal youths (N = 504). The case of Hong Kong only partially supports the thesis. Our findings show that the normalization of drug use among young people has occurred in Hong Kong, but the extent of normalization is smaller than those in Western societies like the United Kingdom. They also suggest that a recognition of possible cultural differences may be complementary to the normalization thesis. Limitations of the study are also noted.

A conflicted drug policy – the normalisation of the drug problem in Finland

Drug use and its attendant problems in Finland are still far removed from the top levels in Europe. Nonetheless, a considerably more conflicted drug political situation than the earlier prevailing consensus around a restrictive policy has quickly emerged. In less than a decade, drugs have become a recognised social fact and problem that must be addressed, though probably never entirely eradicated. The article tests the thesis of the normalisation of drug use that is often brought up in the international debate. The British debate can be summarized in two main points: the significant increase of supply and demand (‘normal’ as “widespread”) as well as the increased social and cultural acceptance of drug use (‘normal’ as “accepted”). The article shows that there can be no talk of normalisation in Finland in terms of these two issues. However, in many ways drug problems have become a commonplace in the country and have thus forced the authorities, political decision-makers and other actors to re-evaluate thoroughly the drug issue. In this sense there are grounds for the normalisation of drugs (‘normal’ as “a social fact”). The article reviews the reports, official documents and new statutes drawn up on drugs during the past decade. In addition, drug political reforms that have caused controversy are also covered. It is thus concluded that drug policy has retreated from a unified policy based on a penal conception towards a more varied and conflicted policy model.

An Exploration of the External Validity of Self-Report amongst Arrestees

Self-report validation surveys in the USA focussing on arrestees' self-reports unequivocally demonstrate that they do not validly report their recent drug consumption despite being a highly drug involved group. Like their American counterparts, English arrestees display very high levels of drug consumption. Data used from the NEW-ADAM programme (1998) is used to explore the external validity of arrestees' self-reports to drug consumption in the 3 days prior to interview. Drug consumption in the UK has become a normalized activity among adolescents, young adults and 'clubbers'. Arrestees and young offenders have recently been added to this list. Therefore the normalization of drug use provides an interesting context through which to view the present findings amongst arrestees.