Positive drug stories: possibilities for agency and positive subjectivity for harm reduction

Abstract

People who use drugs understand drugs and drug use in ways that are often different to the way knowledge of drug use is constructed within the dominant medico-legal discourse. Their experiences are, more often than not, represented in negative ways within dominant discourse, a disconnect that can create adverse consequences for people who use drugs, through the production of stigma and shame leading to poor health and social outcomes. A key difference in how drugs are understood by people who use drugs is the capacity of the former to recognize positive aspects of drug use and create more agentic subjectivities for themselves concerning the use of drugs. Using a thematic analysis of the online forum Australian Drug Discussion, hosted by Bluelight.org, we identify positive drug stories and the contexts of their emergence, as subversions or modifications of dominant understandings. We argue that positive understandings of drug use, as well as recognition of the way their expression serves to generate agency for people who use drugs within or against the confines of dominant discourse, may provide opportunities to limit further the harms flowing from stigmatization and negativity.

Argumentation in anonymous online discussions about decriminalising cannabis use

“…Many citizens receive their information about drugs mostly from the news and drug education in schools, where the most negative aspects of drugs, such as problem use and drug-related criminality, are emphasised ( Hakkarainen et al., 2015 ). Giving more visibility to users who experience little harm from cannabis use, as well as the reasons for using cannabis despite the potential harms, could diversify the public image of cannabis and destigmatise the subject, allowing for a less emotional and more rational debate on its legal status (see also Abalo, 2019 ; Engel et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The possible enjoyable or other positive effects of cannabis, however, are rarely used as an argument (cf. Abalo, 2021;Engel et al, 2020…”

“…The possible enjoyable or other positive effects of cannabis, however, are rarely used as an argument (cf. Abalo, 2021 ; Engel et al, 2020 ). 20) – – Itse olen töissäkäyvä insinööriukko ja toisinaan polttelen pajaria, kun vaihto-opiskellessa jäi ‘tapa’.…”

Potential Influences of the Darknet on Illicit Drug Diffusion

“…Digital modes of drug distribution reshape both these distribution forms. The internet is a modern bazaar [3] of drug-selling modes, expanded psychoactive repertoires [4] and places of community harm reduction, which revise dominant narratives of drug use and PWUD [5]. One innovation has been the emergence of online cryptomarkets.…”

Psychedelic Forum Member Preferences for Carer Experience and Consumption Behavior: Can “Trip Sitters” Help Inform Psychedelic Harm Reduction Services?

“…Past experience with psychedelics might help trip sitters and psychotherapists understand the subjective effects of psychedelics and related psychological states, which are often ineffable (Elsey, 2017; Shah, 2019), and may help build intersubjectivity and rapport (Kettner et al, 2021). The inclusion of people who use drugs in the provision of harm reduction services is also a means of reducing stigma, empowering service users and improving service utilization (Engel et al, 2020). However, psychedelic consumers’ understandings of psychedelic harm reduction and benefit maximization is currently unexplored.…”