The multiple truths about crystal meth among young people entrenched in an urban drug scene: A longitudinal ethnographic investigation

Abstract

Transitions into more harmful forms of illicit drug use among youth have been identified as important foci for research and intervention. In settings around the world, the transition to crystal methamphetamine (meth) use among youth is considered a particularly dangerous and growing problem. Epidemiological evidence suggests that, particularly among young, street-involved populations, meth use is associated with numerous sex- and drug-related “risks behaviors” and negative health outcomes. Relatively few studies, however, have documented how youth themselves understand, experience and script meth use over time. From 2008 to 2012, we conducted over 100 in-depth interviews with 75 street-entrenched youth in Vancouver, Canada, as well as ongoing ethnographic fieldwork, in order to examine youth's understandings and experiences of meth use in the context of an urban drug scene. Our findings revealed positive understandings and experiences of meth in relation to other forms of drug addiction and unaddressed mental health issues. Youth were simultaneously aware of the numerous health-related harms and social costs associated with heavy meth use. Over time, positive understandings of meth may become entirely contradictory to a lived reality in which escalating meth use is a factor in further marginalizing youth, although this may not lead to cessation of use. Recognition of these multiple truths about meth, and the social structural contexts that shape the scripting of meth use among youth in particular settings, may help us to move beyond moralizing debates about how to best educate youth on the “risks” associated with meth, and towards interventions that are congruent with youth’s lived experiences and needs across the lifecourse.

Down in the valley: Trajectories of injection initiation among young injectors in California’s Central Valley

“…Particularly in rural areas of the counties, social marginalization, lack of opportunities, and intergenerational patterns of drug use created the social and emotional conditions conducive to initiating drug use (Fast, Kerr, Wood, & Small, 2014; Gracia 2010). Meso-level social contextual factors were critically important in our participants’ accounts of methamphetamine use, with factors including psychological distress, family influences, intimate relationships, and exposure to others who inject all playing a prominent role in injection trajectories.…”

Violence, trauma and living with HIV: Longitudinal predictors of initiating crystal methamphetamine injection among sex workers

“…In multivariable analyses, physical/sexual violence independently predicted time to initiation of CM injection, which may imply that sex workers are self-medicating with CM for trauma or mental illness. Ethnographic research among street-involved youth in Vancouver supports this hypothesis, where narratives describe using CM as treatment for both professionally and self-diagnosed mental illness (Fast et al, 2014). A systematic review demonstrated consistent associations between CM use and psychosis and depression among youth (Marshall and Werb, 2010).…”

“…Among the limited available data, there is evidence to suggest that harms associated with CM use are increasing in marginalized street-involved populations (e.g., youth) in Western Canada (Degenhardt et al, 2010; Fast et al, 2014; Wood et al, 2006). In Vancouver, Canada, the use of CM has risen among various injection and non-injection drug-using populations (Wood et al, 2006) and recently, the prevalence of CM injection among adults in Vancouver doubled from 4.9% to 10.5% between 2010 and 2011 (UHRI, 2013).…”

Methamphetaminkonsum in Mitteldeutschland: Eine qualitative Studie zu Konsumentengruppen und -motiven aus Expertensicht

“…Bezüglich Konsumentengruppen und -motiven von Methamphetamin existiert international eine recht gute Datenlage [13,21,23,24]. Studien zeigen, dass im Vergleich zu anderen illegalen Drogen beim Methamphetaminkonsum keine Begrenzung auf bestimmte Personengruppen feststellbar ist und riskante Konsummuster in verschiedenen sozialen Gruppen zu finden sind [21,23,24]. Neben Motiven wie Selbstwertsteigerung, Selbstmedikation, Steigerung sexueller Aktivität, Entspannung sowie um Spaß zu haben, konsumieren die Betroffenen Crystal Meth zur Leistungssteigerung im Beruf und Alltag [13,21].…”