Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: the strange case of the two selves of clandestine drug users in Scotland

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the hidden social worlds of competent clandestine users of drugs controlled within the confines of the UK Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which now includes NPS substances. The authors explore how and in what way socially competent drug users differ from others who are visible to the authorities as criminals by criminal justice bureaucracies and known to treatment agencies as defined problem drug users. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative research utilises a bricoleur ethnographic methodology considered as a critical, multi-perspectival, multi-theoretical and multi-methodological approach to inquiry. Findings This paper challenges addiction discourses and, drawing upon empirical evidence, argues the user of controlled drugs should not be homogenised. Using several key strategies of identity management, drug takers employ a range of risk awareness and risk neutralisation techniques to protect self-esteem, avoid social affronts and in maintaining untainted identities. The authors present illicit drug use as one activity amongst other social activities that (some) people, conventionally, pursue. The findings from this study suggest that punitive drug policy, which links drug use with addiction, crime and antisocial behaviour, is inconsistent with the experience of the participants. Research limitations/implications Due to the small sample size (n=24) employed, the possibility that findings can be generalised is rendered difficult. However, generalisation was never an objective of the research; the experiences of this hidden population are deeply subjective and generalising findings and applying them to other populations would be an unproductive endeavour. While the research attempted to recruit an equal number of males and females to this research, gendered analysis was not a primary objective of this research. However, it is acknowledged that future research would greatly benefit from such a gendered focus. Practical implications The insights from the study may be useful in helping to inform future policy discourse on issues of drug use. In particular, the insights suggest that a more nuanced perspective should be adopted. This perspective should recognise the non-deviant identities of many drug users in the contemporary era, and challenge the use of a universally stigmatising discourse and dominance of prohibition narratives. Social implications It is envisaged that this paper will contribute to knowledge on how socially competent users of controlled drugs identify and manage the risks of moral, medical and legal censure. Originality/value The evidence in this paper indicates that drug use is an activity often associated with non-deviant, productive members of the population. However, the continuing dominance of stigmatising policy discourses often leads to drug users engaging in identity concealment within the context of a deeply capitalist Western landscape.

Exploring the Intersection of Drug Addiction and Mental Ill-Health in Scottish Prisons: A Qualitative Study of Incarcerated Men

“…As previous scholars have argued, criminalizing and imprisoning drug users may ultimately be more damaging than the addiction itself (Buchanan, 2004;McPhee et al, 2019a). Wider empirical research has demonstrated that high levels of overcrowding and cell sharing can be predictive of stress, self-harm, and suicide among prisoners (for review, see Molleman & van Ginneken, 2015).…”

“…In wider terms, the policy document, The Road to Recovery (Scottish Government, 2008), released 2 years prior to the emergence of the SPS strategy framework, described drug users as 'economically unproductive' which ultimately stigmatized drug users, including those in treatment (McPhee et al, 2013). As McPhee et al (2019aMcPhee et al ( , 2019b argue, despite the methadone user being classed as 'patient' not 'criminal' in society, dependency on methadone causes 'anger and depression' and also impacts on users' 'cultural integration' and their ability to recover from stigma. Combined with the added stigma of being incarcerated, this may ultimately impact negatively on the types of men who took part in our fieldwork, a clear barrier to recovery and reducing reoffending post-release (Enggist et al, 2014).…”

“…The epidemiology of drug addiction is complicated and the direction of causality can be difficult to tease out, but substance use disorder is statistically correlated with social disadvantage and exclusion (McPhee et al, 2019a). People suffering from addiction are often members of socially deprived communities who lack education, employment, or training (Buchanan, 2004;McPhee et al, 2019a).…”

“…The epidemiology of drug addiction is complicated and the direction of causality can be difficult to tease out, but substance use disorder is statistically correlated with social disadvantage and exclusion (McPhee et al, 2019a). People suffering from addiction are often members of socially deprived communities who lack education, employment, or training (Buchanan, 2004;McPhee et al, 2019a). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), specific abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction exposures such as household substance abuse and family incarceration (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018), combined with school exclusion and unemployment/ under-employment, are also criminogenic risk factors associated with problematic drug use and psychiatric problems in prison (Boys et al, 2002;Kolind & Duke, 2016).…”

Networked psychostimulants: a web-based ethnographic study

“…Certainly, questions of health risks and cognitive enhancement permeate some of these stories, such as Member 2's concern of finding a healthy way to navigate the comedown, or the quest for increased productivity, as expressed by Member 1. However, members' stories are informed by their lived experiences with psychostimulants, which do not necessarily correspond faithfully to more formalisedor staticways of understanding their use (McPhee et al, 2019).…”