Young People's Drug Use Research Articles

Party drugs and party people: examining the ‘normalization’ of recreational drug use in Melbourne, Australia

This paper reports the findings of survey research recently completed in Melbourne, Australia among a sample of 379 bar and nightclub patrons. Drawing from the work of English researchers Howard Parker and Fiona Measham, this study examines the ‘normalization’ of young people's drug use and the links between this drug use and young people's ‘time out’—their leisure time and ‘cultural consumption’ habits. The paper outlines the research participants’ use of alcohol and other drugs including measures of both ‘lifetime’ and more recent use; the prevalence of illegal drug use within the peer group; the general accessibility and availability of illegal drugs, as well as participants’ knowledge of various drug-related risks and harms. The use of alcohol and other drugs was found to be widespread, with 96% of survey respondents identifying as ‘current drinkers’, whilst 56% reported the ‘lifetime use’ of illegal drugs. Just over a third (35.2%) reported the recent (last month) use of an illegal drug, typically ecstasy, cannabis and/or amphetamines. I conclude that such findings provide further support for the claim that drug use is becoming increasingly normalized within youth populations in Australia. The paper closes with a brief discussion of the implications of these findings in terms of the design and implementation of drug prevention and harm minimisation strategies in Australia and elsewhere.

Young people, drug use and family conflict: Pathways into homelessness

Young people who experience homelessness, in Australia and in other western contexts (US, Canada, England), are widely perceived to use and abuse alcohol and drugs. The available research indicates that homeless young people use all drug types, whether injected or otherwise, more frequently than their home-based peers. Debate exists in the research and policy literature about whether drug use is a cause or consequence of homelessness. In a study exploring homeless young peoples reasons for leaving home, we examined the relationship between young people's drug use and their pathways into homelessness. Brief qualitative interviews were conducted with 302 homeless young people (12–20 years). Following a thematic analysis of interview transcripts, four pathways into homelessness involving personal or familial drug use were identified. One-third of the participants indicated that personal or familial drug use was a critical factor in them leaving home. Of these, just over half indicated that personal drug use was a direct or indirect cause of their homelessness and one-quarter indicated that familial drug and alcohol use was the critical factor that led them to leaving home. One-quarter indicated that their drug use only began after they became homeless. Family conflict, if not family breakdown, was implicated in all four pathways out of home.

‘Scripting’ risk: Young people and the construction of drug journeys

The concept of risk, and its centrality to social life, is theoretically much discussed within late modernity. This paper examines young people's drug use and their drug transitions within a framework of risk drawing on findings from a longitudinal ethnographic study of drug use among young people in a Dublin inner-city community. Fifty-seven young people aged between 15 and 19 years, including non-users, recreational, and problematic drug users, were recruited into the study in 1998. Contact was re-established with 42 of the study's participants in 2001. Individual interviews and focus group discussions, supported by prolonged participation within the study site, were the primary methods of data collection. Drawing on the young people's situated accounts of their drug-taking events, routines, and practices across time, the findings highlight the complex social negotiations involved in the construction of drug journeys. Analyses of change in drug use behaviour over the study period demonstrate that drug transitions unfold alongside dynamic and changing perceptions of safety and risk. Responses to ‘risk’ within youth drug scenes were contextually shaped, open to situational revision over time, and, in many instances, drug taking was habitual, not calculated. Put differently, young people ‘script’ risk as they gain experience in the world. The type of calculus involved in the making of drug journeys is fluid and relational, socially contingent rather than static, and subject, at times, to constrained agency linked to social and economic marginalization. It is argued that models of risk that rely on individualistic and rationalistic assumptions struggle to accommodate the fluidity and contradiction that characterizes much drug use. Implications for strategies and initiatives aimed at reducing drug-related harm are discussed.

NEWS AND NOTES

NEWS AND NOTES

The importance of culture and context: rethinking risk and risk management in young drug using populations

This paper explores the place of risk and risk management within contemporary Australian drug policy debates, focusing on the Howard Government's Tough on Drugs strategy. In exploring the conceptual bases of this strategy, this paper suggests that the characterisations of risk discernible in Australian debates have been dominated by a narrow group of ‘expert’ discourses leading to a range of gaps and omissions in the development of drugs policies. Furthermore the paper suggests that such omissions have significant implications for the development of harm reduction strategies within young drug using populations in Australia and elsewhere. In developing these arguments, the paper draws upon the work of Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens. Of particular interest is Beck's account of the tension between ‘expert’ and ‘non-expert’ risk assessments within contemporary risk management debates. In privileging more ‘expert’ risk knowledges, this paper suggests that Australian drug policies have ignored the range of ‘non-expert’ risk management strategies that exist within young drug using populations, and concludes that this ignorance of the culture and the context of young people's drug use further undermines the efficacy of health promotion efforts within these populations.

Consumo de drogas de síntesis en estudiantes de secundaria del Principado de Asturias (España)

The objective of this study is to analyze the situation of designer drug use in young people in Asturias (northern Spain), and to identify the variables related to the consumption of these substances. The sample was made up of 1597 students from secondary schools in this Autonomous Region. Results show that 8% of the young people interviewed had consumed designer drugs at some time, 7% had taken them during the previous year and 4.7% had used them during the previous 30 days. Prevalence of use increased with age, and males consumed more than females. Variables related to consumption are, among others, poor academic performance, tolerant attitudes towards drugs, living with only one parent, strained relations with family, and drug use by friends and family members. These results point to considerable growth in consumption of these substances among the adolescent population in Asturias, and suggest the need for strategies to halt this increase.

A little less shock and more therapy

The study of drug use by young people in the West has been transformed over the last decade by the development of sociological approaches to drug use which take serious account of the cultural context in which young people encounter drugs. One consequence is that the notion of ‘peer pressure’, as the primary articulation of the engagement between youth culture and drug use, has been displaced by that of ‘normalisation’, which envisages ‘recreational’ drug use as one expression of consumer-based youth cultural lifestyles. In stark contrast, academic discussion of drug use in Russia remains primarily concerned with the prevalence and health consequences of (intravenous) drug use while explanations of rising rates of drug use focus on structural factors related to the expansion of drugs supply and, to a lesser extent, post-Soviet social and economic dislocation. In this article, original empirical research in Russia is used to develop an understanding of young people's drug use that synthesises structural and cultural explanations of it. It does this by situating young people's narratives of their drugs choices in the context of local drugs markets and broader socio-economic processes. However, it attempts to go beyond seeing structural location as simply a ‘constraint’ on individual choice by adopting an understanding of ‘youth culture’ as a range of youth cultural practices and formations that simultaneously embody, reproduce and negotiate the structural locations of their subjects.

Young People, Illicit Drug Use and the Question of Normalization

The issues of young people and drug taking have a long history, although recently the topic has been debated more intensely than ever before. Of key importance here has been the dramatic rise in the availability, range and consumption of illicit drugs, a factor that, in part, has been linked to the popularity of dance/club cultures. These changes have been interpreted by some, both within and without academia, as being indicative of a process of the 'normalization' of illicit drug use. This paper reports on qualitative research data that explored young people's youth cultural identification and experiences while also enquiring into how such experiences may be related to the use of illicit drugs. This paper critically examines normalization theory and draws attention to weaknesses on both an empirical and a theoretical level. It is suggested in this paper that, as it stands, normalization theory presents an overly simplistic account of young people's drug use. This paper argues instead for a more differentiated understanding of normalization.

The Trouble with Peace

The cease-fires of 1994 marked the transition of Northern Ireland toward peace. Local media, public perception, and claims by “drug authorities” suggest an increase in drug use subsequent to the cease-fires. This article suggests that social problems in Northern Ireland must be understood in the context of wider political conflict and that the conflict affects all social phenomena. Therefore, the extent and patterning of drug use in young people in Northern Ireland are explored, linked to the major cease-fires. The historical influences of the key paramilitary groups are outlined in relation to their drug ideologies. Media and professional perceptions are examined alongside available evidence constructed from multiple indicators of drug use. Our review of the evidence suggests that it is incorrect to assume that most drug use has increased since the cease-fires. One notable exception to that general conclusion is that a heroin scene may be developing in Northern Ireland.

Young People's Drug Use: facts and feelings - implications for the normalization debate

Young People's Drug Use: facts and feelings - implications for the normalization debate

Young People's Drug Use: facts and feelingsÂimplications for the normalization debate

Much is known about patterns of drug use by young people-especially in terms of measures of 'ever' usage; but relatively little is known about young people's feelings about such usage. This paper will present findings of a quantitative study based on a previous qualitative study. Findings are reported on: drug use; views on the use of cannabis, amphetamines and heroin; views on the health risks of various drugs; and the relationship between reported drug use and expressed views. The findings are discussed in relation to the extent to which illegal drug use can be considered to be 'normalized' as part of young people's lives, towards the end of their compulsory schooling. Whilst the findings provide some evidence for both sides of the 'normalization debate', it is concluded that there is only weak evidence that normalization, even of cannabis use, is true for young people of this age (15-16 years old). However, if drug use is increasing and the age of onset of such use decreasing, then for these young people as they get older, and for future cohorts at the end of their compulsory schooling, normalization of certain forms of drug use may occur.

Young people's drug use in St. Petersburg, Russia: Demographic, social and medical profile

Young people's drug use in St. Petersburg, Russia: Demographic, social and medical profile

Young people's drug use: facts and feelings.

The study aimed to quantify the major findings of a previous qualitative study on drug use and young people. Findings are reported on drug use; views on the use of cannabis; amphetamines and heroin; and the relationship between these views and reported drug use. Reported usage and feelings about drug use are discussed in relation to the extent to which drug use can be considered to be 'normalised'. There is only weak evidence that normalisation, even of cannabis use, is true for young people towards the end of their compulsory schooling. However the findings provide some evidence for both sides in the 'normalisation debate' against a backdrop of apparent increasing use of drugs. Until more evidence is available, the normalisation debate will continue.

What primary school teachers think of drugs education in their school

This paper examines teachers' views of drugs education in primary schools as indicated by the findings of a survey of primary schools (including through primary schools, junior schools and infant schools) in the former County of Avon. Teachers responding to this survey wanted good in-service support, and publications that can be easily understood and used in the classroom. Teachers expressed the need for support in teaching children at Key Stage 1, that is, for children aged 5 to 7 years. Older children currently receive the bulk of attention. Respondents were divided over the need for teaching infant-school children specifically about illegal drugs. Over half felt that such children were too young. However, over 90 per cent felt that drugs education should begin before secondary school. Schools were generally optimistic about the potential impact of drugs education on young people's drug use. However they overwhelmingly stated that schools should not be seen as the sole source of drugs education for young people.

Drug Education in Schools: a Review

Drug use by young people is widespread and increasing. Attempts to prevent or reduce young people's drug use have focused on school-based education. This paper examines some of these strategies. There is wide agreement that providing information about drugs is necessary but insufficient; in addition, young people need to be given the opportunity to examine attitudes about drug use, develop skills in making decisions about use and look at ways to reduce the harms that are associated with their own and others' use of both legal and illegal drugs. Most commentators are also agreed that drug education needs to start early and should take account of what young people already know about drugs. Peer-led approaches are promising but not yet adequately evaluated. Because there are basic differences in philosophies and equivocal research on the effectiveness of drug education there is little consensus on a number of issues.