“Hell, I’m An Addict, But I Ain’t No Junkie”: An Ethnographic Analysis of Aging Heroin Users

Boeri, Miriam W.

doi:10.17730/humo.63.2.p36eqah3w46pn8t2

Cited by 57 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The in-group exists because there are lower status 'out-groups' against which to draw comparison and also against which to discriminate (Hamner, 1992). The marginalisation that injecting drug users experience is well described in the literature (Boeri, 2004;Wodak, Lynch, & Crofts, 2004) and drug users represent a convenient and widely criticised social out-group. By being provided with takeaway doses, participants felt themselves more aligned with the general population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuing methadone takeaway doses: The contribution of service-user perspectives to policy and practice

Treloar

Fraser

Valentine

2007

Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy

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Unlike health policy in the United Kingdom, Australian health policy does not provide a strong endorsement for the involvement of service users in the design, delivery and evaluation of drug treatment services. There has been no research into service-users' views on the contentious issue of methadone takeaway doses. This study explores the value of takeaway doses from service-users' perspectives and highlights the contributions that service-user involvement can make to further drug treatment planning, delivery and evaluation. Twenty-five methadone clients were interviewed about the value of methadone takeaway doses. Benefits cited by participants included convenience, less travel and lower costs, protection of confidentiality and less restriction on employment as well as less tangible issues related to feelings of 'normality' and flexibility in daily life patterns. Feeling trusted as a methadone client was also an important result of accessing takeaway doses. The inclusion of service-user perspectives is important for ensuring that services are not wrongly targeted and that evaluations of those services do not underestimate or misrepresent their value to clients. This is particularly important in policy around illicit drug use where public and political opinion is often a key driver in decision making.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuing methadone takeaway doses: The contribution of service-user perspectives to policy and practice

Treloar

Fraser

Valentine

2007

Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy

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“…In Rødner's (2005) study of Swedish drug users' construction of identity, the controlled drug users she interviewed distinguished their own drug use from the junkie's (or Narkomanar's) un-controlled, full-time use. Similarly the typology devised by Boeri (2004) to distinguish the heroin users she interviewed included the dimensions of control over use and the status that users allocated to their social role as heroin users. In Boeri's typology, junkies had no other social role.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Are drug treatment services only for ‘thieving junkie scumbags’? Drug users and the management of stigmatised identities

Radcliffe

Stevens

2008

Social Science & Medicine

248

201

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a b s t r a c tThis article uses qualitative interviews with 53 problematic drug users who had dropped out of treatment in England, UK to explore how they describe the stigmatisation of drug users and drug services. It discusses the construction of the category of the junkie through its association with un-controlled heroin use and criminality. It shows how some drug users carefully manage information about their discreditable identities by excluding themselves from this category, while acknowledging its validity for other drug users. The junkie identity was generally seen as shameful and therefore to be avoided, although it holds attractions for some drug users. For many of the interviewees, entry to treatment risked exposing their own activities as shaming, as they saw treatment as being a place that was populated by junkies and where it becomes more difficult to manage discreditable information. The treatment regime, e.g. the routine of supervised consumption of methadone, was itself seen by some as stigmatising and was also seen as hindering progress to the desired 'normal' life of conventional employment. Participation in the community of users of both drugs and drug services was perceived as potentially damaging to the prospects of recovery. This emphasises the importance of social capital, including links to people and opportunities outside the drug market. It also highlights the danger that using the criminal justice system to concentrate prolific offenders in treatment may have the perverse effects of excluding other people who have drug problems and of prolonging the performance of the junkie identity within treatment services. It is concluded that treatment agencies should address these issues, including through the provision of more drug services in mainstream settings, in order to ensure that drug services are not seen to be suitable only for one particularly stigmatised category of drug user.

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“…While there are subtle differences depending on the drug in question and the characteristics of users, the general distinction that drug users make is between those who are functional and those who are dysfunctional. That is, between those who can handle their drug use and those who cannot (Boeri 2004;Draus, Roddy, and Greenwald 2010;Rødner 2005). Making such distinctions has a significant impact on the daily activities of drug users.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It allows users to preserve a more prosocial identity and places them in a category worthy of respect, or at least not ridicule. While they may acknowledge their substance abuse, self-defined drug users often argue that they have not succumbed to it like others and should be judged accordingly (Boeri 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Middle-Class Motives for Non-Medical Prescription Stimulant Use among College Students

2015

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“Hell, I’m An Addict, But I Ain’t No Junkie”: An Ethnographic Analysis of Aging Heroin Users

Cited by 57 publications

References 18 publications

Valuing methadone takeaway doses: The contribution of service-user perspectives to policy and practice

Valuing methadone takeaway doses: The contribution of service-user perspectives to policy and practice

Are drug treatment services only for ‘thieving junkie scumbags’? Drug users and the management of stigmatised identities

Middle-Class Motives for Non-Medical Prescription Stimulant Use among College Students

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