Journal article
Irrational Addicts and Responsible Pleasure Seekers: Constructions of the Drug User
Critical Criminology, Vol.24(3), pp.379-389
2016
Abstract
Historically, drug use has been understood as a problem of epidemiology, psychiatry, physiology, and criminality requiring legal and medical governance. Consequently drug research tends to be underpinned by an imperative to better govern, and typically proposes policy interventions to prevent or solve drug problems. We argue that categories of 'addictive' and 'recreational' drug use are discursive forms of governance that are historically, politically and socially contingent. These constructions of the drug problem shape what drug users believe about themselves and how they enact these beliefs in their drug use practices. Based on qualitative interviews with young illicit drug users in Brisbane, Australia, this paper uses Michel Foucault's concept of governmentality to provide insights into how the governance of illicit drugs intersects with self-governance to create a drug user self. We propose a reconceptualisation of illicit drug use that takes into account the contingencies and subjective factors that shape the drug experience. This allows for an understanding of the relationships between discourses, policies, and practices in constructions of illicit drug users.
Details
- Title
- Irrational Addicts and Responsible Pleasure Seekers: Constructions of the Drug User
- Authors
- Margaret Pereira (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyKerry Carrington (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
- Publication details
- Critical Criminology, Vol.24(3), pp.379-389
- Publisher
- Springer Netherlands
- Date published
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10612-015-9298-z
- ISSN
- 1572-9877; 1205-8629
- Copyright note
- This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10612-015-9298-z
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99651596402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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