Recreational Drug Use

Beyond the Honeymoon: Narrative Frameworks to Legitimise Recreational Drug Use in Adulthood

Rebecca Askew, from the The University of Manchester, made a contribution to the 2012 Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, in the category “Traditional and New Forms of Crime and Deviance,” under the title “Beyond the Honeymoon: Narrative Frameworks to Legitimise Recreational Drug Use in Adulthood”. Here is the abstract: This presentation describes findings from interviews with 26 adult recreational drug takers conducted for ESRC funded PhD research. The research explores how the deviance and criminality associated with illegal drugs affects the identity and self-perception of otherwise conforming citizens. It utilises discourse analysis to introduce 6 narrative frameworks, which participants draw from to describe and legitimise their illicit drug use. The frameworks include references to: drug choices and preferences, the contexts in which drugs are taken and how drug use is controlled and maintained within adult life. In addition, each framework incorporates descriptions of what is considered deviant substance use behaviour, which is linked to issues of frequency, function and control. Participants disassociate themselves from this undesirable behaviour in order to legitimise their own drug use. This is a neutralisation technique termed ‘drugscrimination’. These findings offer a unique insight into the variation of drug taking activity beyond youth culture and outside of addiction research.[rtbs name=”criminology”]

Resources

See Also

Further Reading

• “Beyond the Honeymoon: Narrative Frameworks to Legitimise Recreational Drug Use in Adulthood”, by Rebecca Askew (Proceedings)