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Background: In Belgium, Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) collectively organize the cultivation and distribution of cannabis for the personal use of their members. In this paper we seek to improve understanding of the motivations and practices of cannabis growers operating within CSCs, shedding light on the cultivation process.Methods: We draw on data gathered through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with the directors of seven active Belgian CSCs (n = 21) and CSC growers (n = 23). These data are complemented by additional fieldwork and a review of policies relating to CSCs', including bylaws and growing protocols.Findings: The Belgian CSCs rely on single and multiple in-house grower arrangements. Most CSC growers had been cultivating cannabis prior to joining their current CSC, albeit growing in different contexts (non-commercial and commercial). The CSC growers discussed both ideological and pragmatic motives for operating within a CSC. Cultivation took place indoors and followed organic practices. Despite their small-scale (20 plants on average), the grow sites used specialized equipment. The growers reported receiving financial compensation to cover production costs.Conclusion: This paper offers new insights into a particular sector of domestic cannabis cultivation - CSC growers and their practices within those collectives - which has not been studied previously. The Belgian CSCs have decentralized production among small-scale grow sites, at a size comparable to that found in other small-scale cultivation studies. In terms of motivations and practices, CSC growers share some features typically ascribed to small-scale cannabis cultivators. At the same time, CSC growers seemed particularly engaged with the CSC model and willing to adhere to the (self-)regulated practices developed by the organizations. This had implications for the way cultivation was organized and for the role of the grower within the CSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Crystal methamphetamine (ice) has become the substance of choice among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in urban Thailand. Yet, there is scarce data on this phenomenon, partly due to the difficulty in accessing men who will disclose and openly discuss the social contexts, meanings and risks surrounding ice practice. We present an ethnography of ice parties, critically discussing the in-depth social meanings of ice; the sexual socialities and the secrecy surrounding its use; the transactions between older and younger men; and the role of the Internet and mobile technology.Methods: Forty repeated narrative interviews (life stories), ten focus group discussions, as well as systematic online and offline observations were conducted over a three-year period. Purposive sampling was used to recruit study participants in a variety of online and offline spaces and through working closely with local Thai community-based organizations serving MSM. To be eligible, participants had to be between 18 and 29 years, able to converse in Thai, had used ice, and had anal sex with another man in the past 6 months. We also strived for sample variability with respects to socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., age, educational attainment and living situation). Data analysis was conducted in Thai by two researchers using the constant comparative method based on grounded theory.Results: On surface, participants described ice parties as exclusive, in trend, luxurious, fun and pleasurable-a kind of modern camaraderie among beautiful men. In reality, however, this group phenomenon was a social hierarchy containing several important players with relational power to one another, to the ice itself and to the physical space where ice was being consumed. These players included ice suppliers, party hosts, party guests and "icetenders." The paper also discusses the sociality of secrecy that surrounds ice parties as well as the power relations between older relatively rich men who provide ice and the younger men who crave for the chemical, pointing to the risks associated with engagement at ice parties, including instances of rape, violence and unsafe sex. For some participants, ice use was part of their "everyday life," or even believed to be a "rites of passage." For others, it involved sexual silence in cases where they were forced to have (unprotected) sex with certain persons or engage in high-risk activities against their will.Conclusions: Ice parties, where high-risk practices were common, power and agency quickly became relational and negotiable. This paper illuminated the secret sociality of ice so that public health efforts will be better equipped with understanding and reaching out to young men who may be at heightened risk for HIV, STI, violence and other health concerns. Ice parties can, for example, be seen as opportunities for harm-reduction strategies whereby young men are not judged for the activities they engage, but are instead respected and approached in a contextualized, non-judgmental way. Finally, icetenders and party hosts may be individuals where public health practitioners can target and include in the development of novel harm-reduction programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper combines evidence from an ethnographic study of illicit drug use amongst tourists in Ibiza with Bryman's (2004) theoretical model of Disneyization. The principal aim was to construct a new conceptual framework that may help scholars, practitioners and policy makers make sense of dynamic patterns of illegal drug use across bounded play spaces such as tourist resorts, music festivals and nightclubs.Methods: Ethnographic fieldwork employing a grounded theory design was undertaken over three summers in tourist locations on the Balearic island of Ibiza, including nightclubs, bars, cafes, beaches, airports and hotels. Field notes from participant observation were supplemented with data from semi-structured interviews (n = 56) and secondary sources gathered from tourist marketing.Results: The framework of Disneyization has been discussed in terms of 5 constructs: theming, hybrid consumption, branding, performative labour and atmospheres; each having a specific role in relation to understanding illicit drug use in bounded play spaces. Thus: Theming sets the stage, by physically and symbolically demarcating space with indelible themes of hedonism that open up the possibility of illicit drug use. Hybrid-consumption blurs the distinction between legal and illegal forms of intoxication, making the trading and consumption of illegal drugs appear like a natural feature of the consumer space. Branding demonstrates how participants construct intricate hierarchies of taste and credibility related to drug of choice. Performative labour re-enforces hybrid consumption, with participants working in the bounded play spaces of Ibiza immersed within the illicit drug market. Atmospheres represents the alchemic synergy of bounded play space and is important to understanding illicit drug use as a sensorial, deeply immersive but transitory experience.Conclusion: This research offers Disneyization as a new conceptual framework for making sense of deeply complex spatial, socio-cultural, psychological and economic processes that underpin dynamic patterns of drug use in bounded play spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is now commonly accepted that there exists a form of drug supply, that involves the non-commercial supply of drugs to friends and acquaintances for little or no profit, which is qualitatively different from profit motivated 'drug dealing proper'. 'Social supply', as it has become known, has a strong conceptual footprint in the United Kingdom, shaped by empirical research, policy discussion and its accommodation in legal frameworks. Though scholarship has emerged in a number of contexts outside the UK, the extent to which social supply has developed as an internationally recognised concept in criminal justice contexts is still unclear.Methods: Drawing on an established international social supply research network across eleven nations, this paper provides the first assessment of social supply as an internationally relevant concept. Data derives from individual and team research stemming from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, England and Wales, and the United States, supported by expert reflection on research evidence and analysis of sentencing and media reporting in each context. In situ social supply experts addressed a common set of questions regarding the nature of social supply for their particular context including: an overview of social supply research activity, reflection on the extent that differentiation is accommodated in drug supply sentencing frameworks; evaluating the extent to which social supply is recognised in legal discourse and in sentencing practices and more broadly by e.g. criminal justice professionals in the public sphere. A thematic analysis of these scripts was undertaken and emergent themes were developed. Whilst having an absence of local research, New Zealand is also included in the analysis as there exists a genuine discursive presence of social supply in the drug control and sentencing policy contexts in that country.Results: Findings suggest that while social supply has been found to exist as a real and distinct behaviour, its acceptance and application in criminal justice systems ranges from explicit through to implicit. In the absence of dedicated guiding frameworks, strong use is made of discretion and mitigating circumstances in attempts to acknowledge supply differentiation. In some jurisdictions, there is no accommodation of social supply, and while aggravating factors can be applied to differentiate more serious offences, social suppliers remain subject to arbitrary deterrent sentencing apparatus.Conclusion: Due to the shifting sands of politics, mood, or geographical disparity, reliance on judicial discretion and the use of mitigating circumstances to implement commensurate sentences for social suppliers is no longer sufficient. Further research is required to strengthen the conceptual presence of social supply in policy and practice as a behaviour that extends beyond cannabis and is relevant to users of all drugs. Research informed guidelines and/or specific sentencing provisions for social suppliers would provide fewer possibilities for inconsistency and promote more proportionate outcomes for this fast-growing group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A central policy research question concerns the extent to which specific policies produce certain effects - and cross-national (or between state/province) comparisons appear to be an ideal way to answer such a question. This paper explores the current state of comparative policy analysis (CPA) with respect to alcohol and drugs policies.Methods: We created a database of journal articles published between 2010 and 2014 as the body of CPA work for analysis. We used this database of 57 articles to clarify, extract and analyse the ways in which CPA has been defined. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the CPA methods employed, the policy areas that have been studied, and differences between alcohol CPA and drug CPA are explored.Results: There is a lack of clear definition as to what counts as a CPA. The two criteria for a CPA (explicit study of a policy, and comparison across two or more geographic locations), exclude descriptive epidemiology and single state comparisons. With the strict definition, most CPAs were with reference to alcohol (42%), although the most common policy to be analysed was medical cannabis (23%). The vast majority of papers undertook quantitative data analysis, with a variety of advanced statistical methods. We identified five approaches to the policy specification: classification or categorical coding of policy as present or absent; the use of an index; implied policy differences; described policy difference and data-driven policy coding. Each of these has limitations, but perhaps the most common limitation was the inability for the method to account for the differences between policy-as-stated versus policy-as-implemented.Conclusion: There is significant diversity in CPA methods for analysis of alcohol and drugs policy, and some substantial challenges with the currently employed methods. The absence of clear boundaries to a definition of what counts as a 'comparative policy analysis' may account for the methodological plurality but also appears to stand in the way of advancing the techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcohol is a recognized global risk factor for many diseases and injury types and a major contributor to disability and death. While cost-effective interventions do exist, many countries lack a comprehensive national alcohol harm reduction policy. The Arab world includes 22 diverse countries stretching from North Africa to Western Asia having varying dispositions with regards to alcohol sale and consumption. Epidemiological data is scattered and the picture on alcohol consumption remains blurry. This paper presents the findings of an extensive review conducted on all 22 Arab countries, specifically describing: (1) the density and methodology of alcohol-related peer-reviewed publications over the last two decades (1993-2013); (2) the epidemiology of alcohol consumption given all available data; and (3) the current status of policies in the region. Our search revealed a strikingly low number of alcohol-related peer-reviewed published studies - a total of 81 publications across 22 countries and two decades. Most studies are based on clinical or student samples. Where data is available, age of onset is low and drinking is frequent, in the absence of any available or enforced harm reduction policies. We submit that countries in the Arab region can be divided into four categories by alcohol ban and published data. One category includes countries where alcohol is not banned but data is absent, suggesting an ostrich-like response to a controversial behavior, or reflecting a weak research infrastructure and/or policy landscape. Evidence-informed recommendations and future directions for policy and research are discussed and tailored to countries' current stance on alcohol legislation and consumption. Given the particular vulnerability of youth to uptake of alcohol as well as the resulting short and long term consequences, the paper concludes by focusing on the implications of the findings for youth alcohol harm reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Few studies have specifically explored what influences people who use drugs to consume them in certain ways (i.e., smoking, injecting). While a great deal of research has examined the transition from non-injection to injection routes of drug administration, less is known about people who use drugs (PWUD) but have never injected or have stopped injecting. This paper draws on actor-network theory to explore what moves people to inject or not, among both people who currently smoke/sniff drugs (PWSD) and people who currently inject drugs (PWID), to better understand factors that shape/influence methods of drug consumption.Methods: Two-stage interviews (a quantitative survey followed by a qualitative interview) were conducted with 26 PWSD and 24 PWID. Interviews covered a range of topics related to drug use, including reasons for injecting drugs, never injecting, and stopping injecting. Data were analysed by drawing on actor-network theory to identify forces involved in shaping drug consumption practices.Results: We present three transformative drug use events to illustrate how specific methods of drug consumption are shaped by an assemblage of objects, actors, affects, spaces and processes. Rather than emphasising the role of broad socio-structural factors (i.e., poverty, drug policy) participant narratives reveal how a variety of actors, both human and non-human, assembled in unique ways produce drug consumption events that have the capacity to influence or transform drug consumption practices.Conclusion: Actor-network theory and event analysis provide a more nuanced understanding of drug consumption practices by drawing together complex material, spatial, social and temporal aspects of drug use, which helps identify the variety of forces involved in contexts that are thought to shape substance use. By attending to events of drug consumption we can better understand how contexts shape drug use and related harms. With greater insight into the transformative capacity of drug use events, strategies may be better tailored to prevent drug use-related harms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cryptomarkets, or illegal anonymizing online platforms that facilitate drug trade, have been analyzed in a rapidly growing body of research. Previous research has found that, despite increased risks, cryptomarket sellers are often willing to ship illegal drugs internationally. There is little to no information, however, about the extent to which uncertainty and risk related to geographic constraints shapes buyers' behavior and, in turn, the structure of the global online drug trade network. In this paper, we analyze the structure of a complete cryptomarket trade network with a focus on the role of geographic clustering of buyers and sellers.Methods: We use publicly available crawls of the cryptomarket Abraxas, encompassing market transactions between 463 sellers and 3542 buyers of drugs in 2015. We use descriptive social network analysis and Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGM) to analyze the structure of the trade network.Results: The structure of the online drug trade network is primarily shaped by geographical boundaries. Buyers are more likely to buy from multiple sellers within a single country, and avoid buying from sellers in different countries, which leads to strong geographic clustering. The effect is especially strong between continents and weaker for countries within Europe. A small fraction of buyers (10%) account for more than a half of all drug purchases, while most buyers only buy once.Conclusion: Online drug trade networks might still be heavily shaped by offline (geographic) constraints, despite their ability to provide access for end-users to large international supply. Cryptomarkets might be more "localized" and less international than thought before. We discuss potential explanations for such geographical clustering and implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Compared to the general population, among gay and bisexual men (GBM) prevalence rates of anxiety and depression, and of drug use, are high.Objective: This paper explores the relationship between mental health, sexual risk behavior, and drug use among Australian GBM. We identify factors associated with indicators of poor mental health.Methods: Between September 2014 and July 2017, 3017 GBM responded to measures of anxiety and depression in an online cohort study of drug use.Results: Mean age was 35.3 years (SD 12.8). 17.9% screened positive for current moderate-severe anxiety and 28.3% for moderate-severe depression. The majority (52.2%) reported use of illicit drugs in the previous six months, including 11.2% who had used methamphetamine. One third had high (20.4%) or severe (10.6%) risk levels of alcohol consumption, and 18.3% who were current daily smokers. Most illicit drug use in general was not associated with either anxiety or depression, but men who used cannabis were more likely to show evidence of depression (p = 0.005). Among recent methamphetamine users, 28.0% were assessed as dependent: dependent users were more likely to show evidence of both depression and anxiety than were non-dependent users. High or severe risk drinking was associated with depression and daily tobacco use was associated with both anxiety and depression. Depression and anxiety was associated with: less personal support, viewing oneself as 'feminine', and being less socially engaged with gay men. Sexual risk behavior was not associated with either depression or anxiety.Conclusion: Prevalence of anxiety and depression was high, as was prevalence of licit and illicit drug use. Substance use was associated with anxiety and depression only when the use was considered problematic or dependent. Social isolation and marginalization are strong drivers of poor mental health, even within this population for whom anxiety and depression are common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: New evidence with regard to a previously undocumented practice - self phlebotomy, known as 'bloodletting' - incontemporary injecting performance and image enhancing drug (PIED) culture is the subject of this paper. While self phlebotomy has been evidenced in psychiatric patients previously, it was performed here in people who inject AAS as a self directed health care procedure.Methods: Data was collected from five publicly accessible internet discussion forums and coded using NVivo software. For the purposes of this study, posts in relation to bloodletting were extracted from the final set of records for analysis RESULTS: Motivation to perform bloodletting or to 'self - bleed' was largely grounded in experiencing symptoms of high blood pressure or a high red blood cell count (RBC).Instructions on how to perform bloodletting were found within discussion threads.Conclusion: This study is intended to provide the first snapshot of online communal activity around practice of self-phlebotomy or bloodletting amongst people who inject AAS. Further research in this area is warranted, and will be of benefit to healthcare workers, treatment providers and policy makers particularly as this relates to evidence informed and targeted harm reduction policies and effective public health interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policies concerned with illicit drugs vex governments. While the 'evidence-based policy' paradigm argues that governments should be informed by 'what works', in practice policy makers rarely operate this way. Moreover the evidence-based policy paradigm fails to account for democratic participatory processes, particularly how community members and people who use drugs might be included. The aim of this paper is to explore the political science thinking about democratic participation and the potential afforded in 'deliberative democracy' approaches, such as Citizens Juries and other mini-publics for improved drug policy processes. Deliberative democracy, through its focus on inclusion, equality and reasoned discussion, shows potential for drug policy reform and shifts the focus from reliance on and privileging of experts and scientific evidence. But the very nature of this kind of 'deliberation' may delimit participation, notably through its insistence on authorised modes of communication. Other forms of participation beyond reasoned deliberation aligned with the ontological view that participatory processes themselves are constitutive of subject positions and policy problems, may generate opportunities for considering how the deleterious effects of authorised modes of communication might be overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The zero-tolerance approach to doping in sport has long been criticised. Legalising 'doping' under medical supervision has been proposed as a better way of protecting both athletes' health and fair competition. This paper investigates how elite athletes might react if specific doping substances were permitted under medical supervision and explore athletes' considerations about side-effects in this situation. The results are interpreted using a framework, which views elite sport as an exceptional and risky working environment.Methods: 775 elite athletes (mean age: 21.73, SD = 5.52) representing forty sports completed a web-based questionnaire (response rate: 51%) presenting a scenario of legalised, medically supervised 'doping'.Results: 58% of athletes reported an interest in one or more of the 13 proposed substances/methods. Athletes' interest in a specific product was linked to its capacity to enhance performance levels in the athletes' particular sport and depended on gender and age. 23% showed interest in either one or more of erythropoietin (EPO), anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), blood transfusions and/or Growth Hormone if permitted and provided under qualified medical supervision. Male speed and power sports athletes of increasing age had the highest likelihood of being interested in AAS (41%, age 36), female motor-skill sports athletes had the lowest (<1%, age 16). 59% feared side-effects. This fear kept 39% of all athletes from being interested in specific substances/methods whereas 18% declared their interest despite fearing the side-effects.Conclusion: Interpreting results with the understanding of sport as an exceptional and risky working environment suggests that legalising certain 'doping' substances under medical supervision would create other/new types of harms, and this 'trade-off of harms and benefits' would be undesirable considering the occupational health, working conditions and well-being of most athletes. Assessing the risks and harms produced/reduced by specific drugs when considering sport as a precarious occupation may prove useful in composing the Prohibited List and reducing drug-related harm in sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research concerning drug use in the context of sexual activity among gay and bisexual men derives from public health scholarship. In this paper, we critically examine how the relationship between methamphetamine use and sexual risk practice is treated and understood in this body of research. While public health has made important contributions to establishing the link between methamphetamine use and sexual risk-taking, the precise nature of the relationship is not well defined. This creates space for ungrounded assumptions about methamphetamine use to take hold. We outline what appear to be two dominant interpretations of the methamphetamine/sexual practice relationship: the first proposes that methamphetamine has specific pharmacological properties which lead to sexual disinhibition, risky behaviour and poor health outcomes; the second proposes that methamphetamine attracts men who are already inclined toward highly sexualised interactions and risky practice, and that such men are likely to engage in these practices with or without drugs. We suggest that both interpretations are problematic in that they individualise and cast drug and sex practices as inherently risky and biopsychologically determined. We outline a more historically, socially and politically engaged way to understand methamphetamine use in the context of sexual activity by drawing on the concept of sex-based sociality and the ways in which gay and bisexual men may use methamphetamine and sex as social resources around which to build identities, establish relationships, participate in gay communities, and maximise pleasure while protecting themselves and others from harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the work of Bourdieu to theorise smoking and cessation through a class lens, showing that the struggle for distinction created the social gradient in smoking, with smoking stigma operating as a proxy for class stigma. This led to increased policy focus on the health of bystanders and children and later also to concerns about electronic cigarettes. Bourdieu's concept of habitus is deployed to argue that the e-cigarette helps middle-class smokers resolve smoking as a symptom of cleft habitus associated with social mobility or particular subcultures. E-cigarette use is also compatible with family responsibility and sociable hedonism; aspects of working-class habitus which map to the 'practical family quitter' and the 'recreational user' respectively. The effectiveness of class stigma in changing health behaviours is contested, as is the usefulness of youth as a category of analysis and hence the relevance of concerns about young people's e-cigarette use outside a class framework of smoking and cessation. With regard to health inequalities, whilst middle-class smokers have in class disgust a stronger incentive to quit than working-class smokers, there is potential for tobacco control to tap into a working-class ethos of family care and responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The current opioid overdose crisis in North America is heightening awareness of the need for and the challenges of implementing harm reduction, notably within complex and diverse settings such as homeless shelters. In this paper, we explore the implementation of harm reduction in homeless shelters during an emerging overdose emergency.Methods: The objective of this qualitative study was to identify and understand micro-environment level factors within emergency shelters responding to homelessness and substance use, and the macro-level influences that produce and sustain structural vulnerabilities. We conducted eight focus groups with a total of 49 participants during an emerging overdose emergency. These included shelter residents (n = 23), shelter staff (n = 13), and harm reduction workers (n = 13).Results: The findings illustrate the challenges of implementing an overdose response when substance use is prohibited onsite, without an expectation of abstinence, and where harm reduction services are limited to the distribution of supplies. In this context, harm reduction is partially implemented and incomplete. Shelters can be a site of risks and trauma for residents and staff due to experiencing, witnessing, and responding to overdoses.Conclusion: The current overdose crisis heightens the challenges of implementing harm reduction, particularly within complex and diverse settings such as homeless shelters. When harm reduction is limited to the distribution of supplies such as clean equipment and naloxone, important principles of engagement and the development of trust necessary to the provision of services are overlooked with negative implications for service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cannabis use is common, and associated with adverse health outcomes. 'Routes of administration' (ROAs) for cannabis use have increasingly diversified, in part influenced by developments towards legalization. This paper sought to review data on prevalence and health outcomes associated with different ROAs.Methods: This scoping review followed a structured approach. Electronic searches for English-language peer-reviewed publications were conducted in primary databases (i.e., MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Google Scholar) based on pertinent keywords. Studies were included if they contained information on prevalence and/or health outcomes related to cannabis use ROAs. Relevant data were screened, extracted and narratively summarized under distinct ROA categories.Results: Overall, there is a paucity of rigorous and high-quality data on health outcomes from cannabis ROAs, especially in direct and quantifiable comparison. Most data exist on smoking combusted cannabis, which is associated with various adverse respiratory system outcomes (e.g., bronchitis, lung function). Vaporizing natural cannabis and ingesting edibles appear to reduce respiratory system problems, but may come with other risks (e.g., delayed impairment, use 'normalization'). Vaporizing cannabis concentrates can result in distinct acute risks (e.g., excessive impairment, injuries). Other ROAs are uncommon and under-researched.Conclusions: ROAs appear to distinctly influence health outcomes from cannabis use, yet systematic data for comparative assessments are largely lacking; these evidence gaps require filling. Especially in emerging legalization regimes, ROAs should be subject to evidence-based regulation towards improved public health outcomes. Concretely, vaporizers and edibles may offer potential for reduced health risks, especially concerning respiratory problems. Adequate cannabis product regulation (e.g., purity, labeling, THC-restrictions) is required to complement ROA-based effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A violent 'war on drugs' continues to be waged in the Philippines, even as the use of drugs - particular methamphetamine - continues to rise. Furnishing contextual background to the current situation, this paper explores how long-running law enforcement approaches in the Philippines might be viewed by those in their receiving end by presenting findings of an ethnography among marginalized young men.Methods: Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted among 20 young men throughout a 12-month period of participant-observation from December 2011 to September 2013.Findings: Young people make use of various 'tactics' to keep using drugs and evade law enforcement, even as drug use itself is a tactic in their everyday lives. A sense of hypocrisy and injustice, borne of their own experiences, informs their view of law enforcers, whom they call kalaban (enemy). They feel they are being unfairly targeted, but in their view, this danger is just part of the perils of their everyday lives.Conclusion: Young men's resort to various tactics speaks of an agency that is often ignored in public discourses. Their 'lay assessments of risks' and experience-based perceptions of law enforcement raises questions about the efficacy of fear-based anti-drug campaigns. Overall, the study offers an ethnographic argument against the punitive methods being employed by the Philippines, and for measures that reframe the relationship between police and young drug users - from hostility to trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two reclassifications of cannabis in England & Wales in 2004 and 2009 have been subjected to a series of academic analyses which have largely been centred on either the relationship to evidence, or in terms of the implications and realities of policing and health under the changes. However, despite the wealth of attention on this area, there have been relatively few attempts to understand these policy movements through broader criminological theoretical frameworks. One recent exception is Shiner's (2015) utilisation of Garland's (2001) concept of 'structured ambivalence'. This paper seeks to test this application through drawing upon an alternative source of evidence, namely, a series of 'elite' qualitative interviews, and using Kingdon's (1995) Multiple Streams model to make sense of the policy processes. In doing so, it largely corroborates Shiner's conclusions whilst also further illuminating particular agentic aspects and their intertwining with other structural and cultural forces which led to the reclassifications. These findings demonstrate the value of triangulating evidential sources and advances knowledge about the role of individuals in pursuing policy agendas within a broader shifting political climate. This provides greater scope to further test and understand how structured ambivalence manifests itself in other cultural contexts and policy domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pre-drinking is often defined as an economically-minded set of drinking practices engaged in prior to attending public entertainment areas, such as licensed venues. This paper explores motivations and practical considerations that a sample of teenagers describes as significant to 'pre-drinking', despite not attending licensed premises during their most recent risky drinking session.Methods: Data were derived from the mixed-methods Young Australians Alcohol Reporting System (YAARS) project. 16 participants aged 16-19 were identified as pre-drinking on their most recent risky drinking session, followed by subsequent alcohol consumption in non-licensed venues. 4 members of this subsample also undertook qualitative interviews.Results: These data expand on existing understandings of pre-drinking by emphasising the breadth of motivations and practical considerations understood to shape both pre-drinking practices, and subsequent drinking in other public entertainment areas. These primarily included desires for personal enhancement and experiencing freedom over restriction, the dynamics of accessing alcohol and private space, the necessity of opportunism, and concerns regarding parents and other authority figures.Conclusions: Analyses of groups obscured by dominant definitions of what constitutes 'pre-drinking' illuminate a broader range of motivations and concerns facing young people who drink. Such findings enhance our understanding of young people's drinking practices, the terminology used to describe them, and the development of relevant policies and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the field of drug and alcohol studies, researchers think about pleasure or against it; we analyse, consider, investigate, invoke or ignore it. The philosophically inclined may think of pleasure or write on it, but in each of these scenarios pleasure is kept at an arm's length while the researcher appears to remain unmoved - detached observers, objective scientists, conceptual experts, program directors, sharp critics, policy advocates - sober judges whose sovereignty is secured by the formal conventions of positivist research, established theory, institutional authority and/or disciplinary knowledge. This paper asks what happens when pleasure is allowed to emerge as a constitutive element in the relations of drug and alcohol research. What happens when we conceive our work as thinking with pleasure, rather than simply researching pleasure or thinking about it? I return to the later work of Foucault, reading it alongside conceptions of the experiment drawn from Science and Technology Studies, arguing that both the pleasures of drug consumption and drug research might be conceived more generatively as mutually implicated in events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, it is estimated that 71.1 million people have chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, including an estimated 7.5 million people who have recently injected drugs (PWID). There is an additional large, but unquantified, burden among those PWID who have ceased injecting. The incidence of HCV infection among current PWID also remains high in many settings. Morbidity and mortality due to liver disease among PWID with HCV infection continues to increase, despite the advent of well-tolerated, simple interferon-free direct-acting antiviral (DAA) HCV regimens with cure rates >95%. As a result of this important clinical breakthrough, there is potential to reverse the rising burden of advanced liver disease with increased treatment and strive for HCV elimination among PWID. Unfortunately, there are many gaps in knowledge that represent barriers to effective prevention and management of HCV among PWID. The Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney and the International Network on Hepatitis in Substance Users (INHSU) established an expert round table panel to assess current research gaps and establish future research priorities for the prevention and management of HCV among PWID. This round table consisted of a one-day workshop held on 6 September, 2016, in Oslo, Norway, prior to the International Symposium on Hepatitis in Substance Users (INHSU 2016). International experts in drug and alcohol, infectious diseases, and hepatology were brought together to discuss the available scientific evidence, gaps in research, and develop research priorities. Topics for discussion included the epidemiology of injecting drug use, HCV, and HIV among PWID, HCV prevention, HCV testing, linkage to HCV care and treatment, DAA treatment for HCV infection, and reinfection following successful treatment. This paper highlights the outcomes of the roundtable discussion focused on future research priorities for enhancing HCV prevention, testing, linkage to care and DAA treatment for PWID as we strive for global elimination of HCV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally, policymakers are considering alternative, non-criminal responses to the possession of drugs for personal use, or 'simple possession'. We show that 'decriminalization' is not a simple, unified model; rather, there are meaningful differences in policies and options available as part of a non-criminal response. Responses include various decriminalization, diversion, and depenalization approaches. However, what details need to be considered in developing these approaches? In this paper, we eschew these labels and present an overview of key design features of non-criminal responses to simple possession and consider some of the equity considerations of the choices available, including reform architecture (the objectives and legal framework); eligibility criteria (population-, place-, and drug-based criteria); and actions taken (deterrence, therapeutic, and enforcement strategies). This paper does not evaluate individual features or models, but instead offers a practical framework that can be used to deliberate on potential reform decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Between 1992 and 2012 dispensing episodes for pharmaceutical opioids (PO) in Australia increased from 500000 to 7500000. In the US, increases in the prescription of PO have been linked to increases in opioid-related morbidity and mortality and transitions to heroin injection. However, Australian data indicate that morbidity and mortality related to PO are relatively low, particularly when compared to heroin and other drugs. This paper explores the characteristics and patterns of non-medical pharmaceutical opioid (NMPO) use among a sample of young people in Sydney, Australia.Methods: During 2015, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 34 young people who use PO non-medically by oral (n=22) and intravenous (n=12) routes of administration.Results: Oral NMPO users were a more affluent group who clustered around the Northern, Inner and Eastern suburbs of Sydney, while the intravenous users came from a range of locations including rural/regional areas of NSW and socioeconomically disadvantaged suburbs of South Western Sydney. Oral users were characterised by intermittent and largely self-limiting NMPO use and reported few health and social consequences. Intravenous users reported heavy and frequent drug, including NMPO, use and a range of adverse health and social consequences including overdose, injecting risk behaviour, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and residential instability.Conclusion: Results highlight the significance of social and structural factors in trajectories of opioid use and related harms. Factors such as stable housing and family relationships, disposable income and close social networks observed in young oral NMPO users may help to explain differences in patterns of NMPO use and related outcomes between the two groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research has shown that people often need assistance from an established person who injects drugs (PWID) in order to initiate their own injection drug use. Yet, there is scant research on the injection initiation process from the perspective of established PWID who assists with initiation. In this paper, we examine the injection initiation process from the perspective of established PWID.Methods: From 2011 to 2013, we conducted qualitative life history interviews with 113 PWID in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Qualitative data were coded using an inductive analysis approach. Emergent themes are presented in a series of emblematic case studies that elucidate the injection initiation process from the point of view of the PWID who help people with their first injection.Results: Most participants (70%) said that they had never initiated another person into drug injection, citing negative health and social consequences of drug injection as their primary reasons. Among those PWID who had ever facilitated initiation (30%), most expressed moral ambivalence about the behaviour. Using case studies, we show how PWID engage in a complicated calculation that weighs the pros and cons of assisting someone with their first injection. Concerns about long term harms associated with injection drug use sometimes give way to short-term altruistic concerns related to self-initiation or instrumental needs on the part of the established PWID.Conclusions: Objections to facilitating initiation of injection naïve persons appear to be common among established PWID but are sometimes overridden by a need to reduce harms that can be associated with self-initiation and one's structural vulnerability. For established PWID, helping to initiate another person becomes a complex moral question with nuanced motivations. While further substantiation of this observation will require more research, it is worth considering how existing disinclination to initiating injection naïve persons can be integrated into new or existing approaches to preventing injection initiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Smartphone technologies and mHealth applications (or apps) promise unprecedented scope for data collection, treatment intervention, and relapse prevention when used in the field of substance abuse and addiction. This potential also raises new ethical challenges that researchers, clinicians, and software developers must address.Aims: This paper aims to identify ethical issues in the current uses of smartphones in addiction research and treatment.Methods: A search of three databases (PubMed, Web of Science and PsycInfo) identified 33 studies involving smartphones or mHealth applications for use in the research and treatment of substance abuse and addiction. A content analysis was conducted to identify how smartphones are being used in these fields and to highlight the ethical issues raised by these studies.Results: Smartphones are being used to collect large amounts of sensitive information, including personal information, geo-location, physiological activity, self-reports of mood and cravings, and the consumption of illicit drugs, alcohol and nicotine. Given that detailed information is being collected about potentially illegal behaviour, we identified the following ethical considerations: protecting user privacy, maximising equity in access, ensuring informed consent, providing participants with adequate clinical resources, communicating clinically relevant results to individuals, and the urgent need to demonstrate evidence of safety and efficacy of the technologies.Conclusions: mHealth technology offers the possibility to collect large amounts of valuable personal information that may enhance research and treatment of substance abuse and addiction. To realise this potential researchers, clinicians and app-developers must address these ethical concerns to maximise the benefits and minimise risks of harm to users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cryptomarkets are digital platforms that use anonymising software (e.g. Tor) and cryptocurrencies (e.g. Bitcoin) to facilitate trade of goods and services, most notably illicit drugs. Cryptomarkets may reduce systemic violence compared with in-person drug trading because no face-to-face contact is required and disputes can be resolved through a neutral third party. In this paper, we describe the purchasing behaviour of cryptomarket users and then compare the self-reported experiences of threats, violence and other drug-market concerns when obtaining drugs from cryptomarkets with obtaining drugs through friends, known dealers and strangers.Methods: The Global Drug Survey was completed in late 2014 by a self-selected sample who reported accessing drugs through cryptomarkets in the last 12 months (N=3794).Results: Their median age was 22 years and 82% were male. The drug types most commonly obtained through cryptomarkets were MDMA/Ecstasy (55%), cannabis (43%) and LSD (35%). Cryptomarket users reported using a median of 2 sources in addition to cryptomarkets to access drugs, the most common being in-person friendships (74%), in-person dealers (57%) and open markets/strangers (26%). When asked to nominate the main source they would use if cryptomarkets were unavailable, 49% nominated friends, 34% known dealers and 4% strangers. 'Threats to personal safety' (3%) and 'experiencing physical violence' (1%) were less often reported when using cryptomarkets compared with sourcing through friends (14%; 6%), known dealers (24%; 10%) or strangers (35%; 15%). Concerns about drug impurities and law enforcement were reported more often when using the alternative source, while loss of money, waiting too long and not receiving the product were more often reported when using cryptomarkets.Conclusion: Cryptomarkets are associated with substantially less threats and violence than alternative market types used by cryptomarket customers, even though a large majority of these alternatives were closed networks where violence should be relatively less common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People who use drugs (PWUD), and especially those who inject drugs, are at increased risk of acquiring bloodborne infections (e.g., HIV and HCV), experiencing drug-related harms (e.g., abscesses and overdose), and being hospitalized and requiring inpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy delivered through a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC). The use of PICC lines with PWUD is understood to be a source of tension in hospital settings but has not been well researched. Drawing on theoretical and analytic insights from "new materialism," we consider the assemblage of sociomaterial elements that inform the use of PICCs.Methods: This paper draws on n = 50 interviews conducted across two related qualitative research projects within a program of research about the impact of substance use on hospital admissions from the perspective of healthcare providers (HCPs) and people living with HIV/HCV who use drugs. This paper focuses on data about PICC lines collected in both studies.Results: The decision to provide, maintain, or remove a PICC is based on a complex assemblage of factors (e.g., infections, bodies, drugs, memories, relations, spaces, temporalities, and contingencies) beyond whether parenteral intravenous antibiotic therapy is clinically indicated. HCPs expressed concerns about the risk posed by past, current, and future drug use, and contact with non-clinical spaces (e.g., patient's homes and the surrounding community), with some opting for second-line treatments and removing PICCs. The majority of PWUD described being subjected to threats of discharge and increased monitoring despite being too ill to use their PICC lines during past hospital admissions. A subset of PWUD reported using their PICC lines to inject drugs as a harm reduction strategy, and a subset of HCPs reported providing harm reduction-centred care.Conclusion: Our analysis has implications for theorizing the role of PICC lines in the care of PWUD and identifies practical guidance for engaging them in productive and non-judgemental discussions about the risks of injecting into a PICC line, how to do it safely, and about medically supported alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Drug-related deaths globally are increasing year on year, with the largest proportion of these being opioid-related. The opioid antagonist naloxone distributed for take-home use ('Take-Home Naloxone (THN)') has been championed as one method of tackling this public health crisis, however to be effective it must be available at an opioid overdose. Ownership and carriage are therefore fundamental to THN success. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of ownership and carriage of THN internationally among people who use drugs (PWUD).Methods: NHS Scotland Journals, AMED, EMBASE, HMIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete, PubMed, Cochrane Library, PROSPERO and grey literature were searched for articles which measured prevalence of THN ownership or carriage between 1996 and 2020. Ownership was defined as report of a personal supply of THN. Carriage was defined as the participant carrying THN on their person at time of data collection or reporting a frequency of how often they carry THN. Risk of bias was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Checklist for Prevalence Studies.Results: Systematic search yielded 6363 papers, with ten eligible papers identified. Eight articles were included in ownership prevalence and five articles included for carriage prevalence, with an overlap of three studies between both measures. Pooled prevalence indicated moderate ownership levels (57%, CI 47-67%) but lower carriage levels (20%, CI 12-31%). Analysis was complicated by the limited number of available studies and lack of standardised terminology and measurement.Conclusion: Understanding naloxone ownership and carriage globally is hampered by limited evidence and heterogeneity across studies. From the available data, prevalence of THN carriage overall appears low, despite moderate ownership. Given the variation across studies, future research should seek to utilise more standardised terminology and methods of measurement. Furthermore, services distributing THN must ensure the importance of regular carriage of naloxone is consistently emphasised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Testosterone is used therapeutically in medical settings. Non-prescribed testosterone use is typically illegal, described as 'enhancement' or 'doping', and considered a problem. However, research has found that some non-prescribed testosterone use may be therapeutic (i.e. self-medication). Little is known about testosterone self-medication. It has been noted among individuals who use image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs), but never systematically explored.Approach: This paper describes the findings of a 4-year ethnographic study in online forums and social media groups frequented by people who use IPEDs. It focusses on 31 men who used enhancement doses of testosterone, but who described some of their testosterone use as 'testosterone replacement therapy' (TRT). In particular, it focuses on the 26 (84%) of these individuals who self-medicated TRT. Data was analysed thematically (using NVivo) in order to answer the question: 'how and why is testosterone self-medicated?'. Using Bacchi's (2016) problematization approach to policy analysis, this paper also asks, 'what happens to the 'problem' of non-prescribed testosterone use if such use is therapeutic?'.Findings: Self-medicated TRT was found to be very similar to TRT as practised in medical contexts. Self-medication was often practised because of an inability to access testosterone through health practitioners (who were either reluctant or unable to prescribe). However, some individuals were found to prefer self-medication because of price, ease of access, reliability of supply, and because health practitioners were perceived as lacking expertise regarding testosterone use.Conclusion: By documenting the therapeutic use of testosterone outside of medical settings, this paper calls into question previous conceptualisations of all illicit testosterone use as 'abuse', and the utility of the repair/enhancement dichotomy as a foundation for discussions of drug use. It suggests that in some cases the problem may not be non-prescribed testosterone use per se, but policies that prevent access to medical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Globally, non-medical heroin use is generating significant public health and social harms, and drug policy about heroin is a controversial field that encompasses many complex issues. Policy responses to illegal heroin markets have varied from militarized eradication of the opium poppy and harsh punishment of users, to more tolerant harm reduction approaches with decriminalized possession and use.Methods: This paper reports the outcomes of a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) on four generic regulatory regimes of heroin: prohibition, decriminalisation, state control and free market. Invited experts on drug harms, addiction, criminology and drug policy developed a comprehensive set of 27 policy outcome criteria against which these drug policy regimes were assessed.Results: State control of heroin was identified as the preferred policy option although other policy regimes scored better on specific outcome criteria. The free market model scored better than decriminalisation, with absolute prohibition scoring worst on every criterium. The ranking of the regimes was robust to variations in the criterion-specific weights.Conclusion: The implications of these findings for the development of future policy responses to heroin and opioids generally are discussed in detail. Despite increasing overdose deaths and an opioid epidemic in North America, prohibition remains the predominant policy approach to heroin regulation at present. It is hoped that the current paper adds to the discussion of finding a valid regulatory alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective approach to drug regulation is a growing concern. Since 2012, 10 US States and Uruguay have taken the step to revoke prohibition and legalize the recreational cannabis market. Based on the findings from a study ('Cannalex') carried out in 2015-2017 in Colorado, Washington and Uruguay by the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) and the Institute of Security and Justice (INHESJ), relying on a hundred of in-depth interviews analyzed in line with the existing official statistics and studies, this paper shows heterogeneous policy-making models and contexts for reform. It also examines the early outcomes of the cannabis policy change. A mixed picture is emerging from the regulatory regimes currently implemented. This paper discusses the reform processes and their early outcomes, with a specific focus on the less documented area: the political processes that led to legalizing cannabis, analyzed with qualitative data. It argues that the different outcomes reported across Colorado, Washington and Uruguay are framed by the regulatory options that were taken, depending on specific dynamics of reform. The discussion focuses on some hot topics raised by the effective regulations, stressing that the array of cannabis regulatory options is a public debate that has just begun. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ten U.S. states, Canada, and Uruguay have passed laws to legalize the production and sale of cannabis for non-medical purposes. Available research has documented rapidly falling prices and changing product mixes, but many details are not well understood: particularly, the popularity, prices, and product characteristics of different cannabis edibles and extract-based products - each offering different ways to consume cannabis, with unclear health consequences.Methods: This paper analyzes data from Washington's recreational cannabis market, which has recorded over 110 million retail item-transactions from July 2014 to October 2017. Previous research on price and product trends has focused mostly on herbal cannabis, which accounts for the majority, but a decreasing share, of sales. This paper applies advanced text-analytic methods to provide new insights, including (A) estimating potency data for edibles and (B) identifying extract sub-types. Patterns and trends are described, across product types, regarding THC and CBD profiles and price per THC.Results: Extracts accounted for 28.5% of sales in October 2017. Of extracts categorized to subtype, nearly half were identified as "dabs", and another half "cartridges". In October 2017, price per 10 mg THC was roughly $3 among edibles, 70 cents among extract cartridges, and 30-40 cents for other flower and other extracts; solid concentrates offered the lowest priced THC among extract products. Price declines continue but have slowed. High-CBD chemovars are becoming more common, but still are almost non-existent in flower marijuana and rare (1% of sales) among extract products.Conclusion: As Washington's recreational cannabis market has developed over three and a half years, trends identified in that market may serve as an early indication of potential issues in other states. Legislators and regulators in other jurisdictions with commercial non-medical cannabis markets may wish to establish policies responsive to these trends in product popularity, price, and potency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple layers of dealers connect international drug traffickers to users. The fundamental activity of these dealers is buying from higher-level dealers and re-selling in smaller quantities at the next lower market level. Each instance of this can be viewed as completing a drug dealing "cycle". This paper introduces an approach for combining isolated accounts of such cycles into a coherent model of the structure, span, and profitability of the various layers of the domestic supply chain for illegal drugs. The approach is illustrated by synthesizing data from interviews with 116 incarcerated dealers to elucidate the structure and operation of distribution networks for cocaine and heroin in Italy and Slovenia. Inmates' descriptions of cycles in the Italian cocaine market suggest fairly orderly networks, with reasonably well-defined market levels. The Italian heroin market appears to have more "level-jumpers" who skip a market level by making a larger number of sales per cycle, with each sale being of a considerably smaller weight. Slovenian data are sparser, but broadly consistent. Incorporating prices allows calculation of how much of the revenue from retail sales is retained by dealers at each market level. In the Italian cocaine market, both retail sellers and the international supply chain outside of Italy each appear to receive about 30-40% of what users spend, with the remaining 30% going to higher-level dealers operating in Italy (roughly 10% to those at the multi-kilo level and 20% to lower level wholesale dealers). Factoring in cycle frequencies permits rough estimation of the number of organizations at each market level per billion euros in retail sales, and of annual net revenues for organizations at each level. These analyses provide an approach to gaining insight into the structure and operation of the supply chain for illegal drugs. They also illustrate the value of two new graphical tools for describing illicit drug supply chains and hint at possible biases in how respondents describe their drug dealing activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: International drug law enforcement agencies have identified an apparent rise in high level drug traffickers choosing to deal in multiple different drugs. It is hypothesised that this may be a "deliberate modus operandi" and that the formation of "portfolios of trades" may make such traffickers more profitable, harmful and resilient to changes in drug supply and policing. In this paper we provide the first exploration of the extent, nature and harms of poly-drug trafficking at Australian borders.Methods: Two different methods were used. First, we used Australian Federal Police (AFP) data on all commercial level seizures at the Australian border from 1999 to 2012 to identify the proportion of seizures that were poly-drug and trends over time. Second, we used unit-record data on a sub-set of 20 drug trafficking cases and linked-cases (defined as the original drug trafficking case and all other criminal cases that were connected via common offenders and/or suspects) to compare the profiles of poly-drug and mono-drug traffickers, including: the total weight and type of drug seized, the value of assets seized, and the level of involvement in other crime (such as money laundering and corruption).Results: Between 5% and 35% of commercial importations at the Australian border involved poly-drug trafficking. Poly-drug trafficking occurred in almost every year of analysis (1999-2012), but it increased only slightly over time. Compared to mono-drug traffickers poly-drug traffickers were characterised by: larger quantities of drugs seized, larger networks, longer criminal histories and more involvement in other types of serious crime.Conclusion: Some fears about poly-drug traffickers may have been overstated particularly about the inherent escalation of this form of trafficking. Nevertheless, this suggests poly-drug traffickers are likely to pose added risks to governments and law enforcement than mono-drug traffickers. They may necessitate different types of policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A growing body of literature aims to improve understanding of the operations of drug trafficking markets through conducting interviews with dealers and traffickers. Insight into how these individuals conduct business can provide evidence to inform the efforts by policy makers, law enforcement and practitioners to disrupt illicit markets. This paper aims to make a contribution to this evidence base by extending the number of European countries in which interviews have been conducted with incarcerated drug dealers and traffickers.Methods: It draws on interviews with 135 men convicted of offences related to the distribution or sale of heroin or cocaine and imprisoned in Italy, Slovenia and Germany. The research was conducted as part of the Reframing Addictions Project (ALICE-RAP) funded by the European Commission. The sample was diverse. It included a range of nationalities and some individuals who were members of organised crime groups. The majority of the interviewees were dealers who sold at the retail and street level, but there were some who were importers and wholesalers.Findings: Most dealers in each of the three countries reported having more than one regular supplier, and were able to respond to periods of over and under supply without losing customers. Supply arrangements varied in terms of frequency and quantities bought. Dealers engaged in repeated transactions and their relationships with customers were based on trust and reputation. Dealers aimed to sell to regular customers and to provide drugs of good quality. While dealers sought to maximise their profits by cutting drugs with cutting agents, the quality of drugs that they sold could affect their reputation and thus their profits and position in the market. Lastly, while there are some significant differences in the approach between those involved in organised crime groups and those who are not, and between street dealers and those operating at higher levels of the market, there were striking similarities in terms of the day-to-day operational concerns and modes of relationship management.Conclusions: Interviewees' arrangements for securing supplies of drugs provide support to the notion that drug markets are resilient and flexible. Our findings correspond with other empirical research in relation to the centrality of trust in the practical operation of supply and sale of drugs. The research highlights some differences, but important similarities between dealers who were part of organised crime groups and those who were not; dealers all faced some common challenges and adopted some common responses to these. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the 1960s and the 1970s, Morocco and Lebanon became major producers of hashish for export to markets in West and Central Europe, Africa and the Middle East. By using a comparative approach, this paper aims to evaluate changes in production in the traditional areas of cannabis cultivation in the Rif (Morocco) and the Beqaa (Lebanon) and to better understand the role that these countries play in current trends in the global cultivation and consumption of cannabis.Methods: The comparative approach takes in account the historical and institutionnal context, and the perception of cannabis in those two country. We rely on primary field research done in the Rif (from 2002) and in the Beqaa (from 1995) in the form of interviews and observations with farmers and intermediaries. Acreage and production estimates of hashish for both countries have been triangulated from different sources.Results: Maghreb and Middle East have a long history of consumption, production and marketing of cannabis. Over the past 12 centuries, migration, trade and different spiritual practices and trends have led to the expansion of cannabis markets. This long period is marked by stages and rifts caused by foreign interference, a worldwide prohibition of cannabis at the beginning of the 20th century and increased global demand in the 1960s and the 1970s. Morocco and Lebanon are among the most important producers of hashish to be exported for trade for the last fifty years. The global prohibition of cannabis and the global sustained demand have created opportunities for poor farmers in the Rif and the Beqaa regions to survive and get wealthy. It is difficult to understand the reasons why areas producing cannabis are steadily increasing. If the Rif and the Beqaa share some features (such are marginalized areas of production, repressive legislation, huge international demand, range of comparable tasks and Mediterranean climate suitable for growing cannabis, etc.) then a comparison between the two countries makes it more easy to notice differences in contexts, in local and international markets (Stability in Morocco, instability in Lebanon; traditional market in Morocco, absence of local market in Lebanon, etc.) In Morocco, the stability and specialized skills among Moroccan growers of hashish have enhanced a competitive economy with various production areas, products and qualities, but also prices and strategies due to competition between Moroccan and European producers. Moreover, Morocco produces cannabis for its significant local market.Conclusion: As shown by comparing Morocco and Lebanon, allows us to examine their perverse effects caused by a global prohibition. The criminalization of growers has only increased their marginalized situation. The enforced eradication of cannabis has limited the cultivation for a short time but not in any sustainable way (resumption of cannabis cultivation in a time of conflict in Lebanon; replacement of local variety by hybrids in Morocco). The cultural heritage of cannabis and its social functions should not be ignored. In the light of the new global changes in the cannabis cultivation (Import substitution, technical progress in developed countries, etc.), hashish producers in the south countries are likely to face uncertain future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) suffer from a high burden of infectious disease. At the same time, they often have poor access to health care. As in other East African countries, the population of PWID is growing in Tanzania, but little is known about their contact with health care services. In this paper we examine patterns of health care use among PWID in Dar es Salaam and identify what factors are associated with regular contact with clinicians during illness.Methods: We conducted a baseline cross-sectional study as part of a prospective cohort study involving PWID. We recruited 578 PWID, of whom 273 were newly enrolled on an integrated methadone-assisted treatment (MAT) program and 305 were community-recruited. At baseline, we interviewed the MAT program enrollees before they received services at the program clinics. We used bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses to identify the factors associated with seeking medical care when ill.Results: Only 25.4% of 578 participants reported seeing clinicians regularly when they needed medical care. Participants were more likely to see clinicians regularly if they were employed, (OR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.28-3.98), had higher income levels (OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.00-1.22), were parents (OR: 1.71, 95% CI: 1.09-2.68), or knew where to seek affordable care (OR: 3.42, 95% CI: 2.12-5.52).Conclusion: PWID in Dar es Salaam generally did not seek health care when needed. To improve their health care seeking behaviour, it is important to advise PWID about where to seek affordable health care and to increase their income-generating skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Illegal drug markets are shaped by multiple forces, including local actors and broader economic, political, social, and criminal justice systems that intertwine to impact health and social wellbeing. Ethnographic analyses that interrogate multiple dimensions of drug markets may offer both applied and theoretical insights into drug use, particularly in developing nations where new markets and local patterns of use traditionally have not been well understood. This paper explores the emergent drug market in Kisumu, western Kenya, where our research team recently documented evidence of injection drug use.Methods: Our exploratory study of injection drug use was conducted in Kisumu from 2013 to 2014. We draw on 151 surveys, 29 in-depth interviews, and 8 months of ethnographic fieldwork to describe the drug market from the perspective of injectors, focusing on their perceptions of the market and reports of drug use therein.Results: Injectors described a dynamic market in which the availability of drugs and proliferation of injection drug use have taken on growing importance in Kisumu. In addition to reports of white and brown forms of heroin and concerns about drug adulteration in the market, we unexpectedly documented widespread perceptions of cocaine availability and injection in Kisumu. Examining price data and socio-pharmacological experiences of cocaine injection left us with unconfirmed evidence of its existence, but opened further possibilities about how the chaos of new drug markets and diffusion of injection-related beliefs and practices may lend insight into the sociopolitical context of western Kenya.Conclusions: We suggest a need for expanded drug surveillance, education and programming responsive to local conditions, and further ethnographic inquiry into the social meanings of emergent drug markets in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The role the brain plays in the creation and maintenance of tobacco dependence has become increasingly prominent in explanations of smoking that are presented to the public. The potential for brain-based explanations of smoking to influence smokers' understandings of their addiction, their sense of self-efficacy, and perhaps even their treatment preferences, has been raised by some working in the addiction field. However, little empirical evidence exists in this area.Methods: This paper reports on semi-structured interviews with 29 daily smokers. Participants were shown a brief presentation about the neuroscience of nicotine dependence. They were then queried about their awareness of the role of the brain in smoking, and the consequences of this knowledge for their understandings of smoking and their treatment preferences.Results: Our results indicated that many participants displayed some awareness of the link between the brain and addiction. While there was a diversity of ideas about the potential impacts of neuroscience knowledge about smoking, there was an overall tendency to maintain pre-existing treatment preferences, and to assert individual responsibility for smoking. Emergent themes that arose were the brain as a special organ, the discourse of the "other" smoker, and the distinction between physical and psychological facets of addiction.Conclusion: While brain-based explanations of smoking are unlikely to revolutionise lay understandings of smoking, neuroscience information should be presented in a way that does not negate people's sense of agency and self-efficacy in relation to quitting smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent years, an abstinence-focused, 'recovery' agenda has emerged in UK drug policy, largely in response to the perception that many opioid users had been 'parked indefinitely' on opioid substitution therapy (OST). The introduction of ten pilot 'Drug Recovery Wings' (DRWs) in 2011 represents the application of this recovery agenda to prisons. This paper describes the DRWs' operational models, the place of opiate dependent prisoners within them, and the challenges of delivering 'recovery' in prison.Methods: In 2013, the implementation and operational models of all ten pilot DRWs were rapidly assessed. Up to three days were spent in each DRW, undertaking semi-structured interviews with a sample of 94 DRW staff and 102 DRW residents. Interviews were fully transcribed, and coded using grounded theory. Findings from the nine adult prisons are presented here.Results: Four types of DRW were identified, distinguished by their size and selection criteria. Strikingly, no mid- or large-sized units regularly supported OST recipients through detoxification. Type A were large units whose residents were mostly on OST with long criminal records and few social or personal resources. Detoxification was rare, and medication reduction slow. Type B's mid-sized DRW was developed as a psychosocial support service for OST clients seeking detoxification. However, staff struggled to find such prisoners, and detoxification again proved rare. Type C DRWs focused on abstinence from all drugs, including OST. Though OST clients were not intentionally excluded, very few applied to these wings. Only Type D DRWs, offering intensive treatment on very small wings, regularly recruited OST recipients into abstinence-focused interventions.Conclusion: Prison units wishing to support OST recipients in making greater progress towards abstinence may need to be small, intensive and take a stepped approach based on preparatory motivational work and extensive preparation for release. However, concerns about post-release deaths will remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cannabis prohibition can generally be regarded as the main driver for home growing of marijuana. In this paper, I discuss the impact of drug prohibition on cannabis cultivators from the three German-speaking countries: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In particular, this refers to the questions; how illicitness influences motivations for growing; which precautionary measures are taken against the risk of discovery; how penal consequences differ in the three countries and how these aspects are linked to each other.Methods: The results come from a sample of 1578 respondents from the German-language online survey conducted following the International Cannabis Cultivation Questionnaire (ICCQ). The survey was carried out in late 2012 and early 2013.Results: While most of the reasons for growing cannabis relate to avoiding negative consequences of prohibition, the illicitness of cannabis also plays a major role for concern about the cultivation activities as well as measures to avoid negative consequences. Swiss growers are less worried about their activity compared to respondents from Germany or Austria.Conclusion: The results confirm the notion that the illicitness of cannabis is the main drive for the private cultivation of the plant. At the same time, prohibition is the principal reason for concern regarding the growing activity. The severity of possible sentences seems to be linked to the degree of concern and precautionary measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the activities of a large drug eradication movement called Pat Jasan in northern Myanmar. It will outline the different everyday justice systems available in the Myanmar borderlands to communities who are seeking to push forward a 'solutions focused' agenda to manage drug-related social problems. They have at their disposal a range of statutory, customary, and quasi-statutory-customary legal processes and instruments. However, a close analysis of everyday justice highlights the complex challenges posed in this contested borderland concerning how to address these issues through multiple, overlapping authorities. The paper shows how notions of legitimacy for drug related legal processes are constructed and the key role of brokers in this environment, who are vital in managing the dilemmas of governance and legal administration. It also touches upon emerging intergenerational and gendered tensions that serve to orientate ideological and political perspectives towards different outcomes as these systems are navigated. The complexity and sensitivity of the local everyday justice social field contrasts sharply with the debates conducted about Pat Jasan at a national and drugs policy reform level, in which these local actors are marginalized as disruptive and reactionary forces that work entirely outside the rule of law. The paper invites consideration of how national and international drug policy actors engage with such social movements, as well as how concerns about illicit drug use and supply within local communities provides a helpful tool of analysis for understanding other critical issues for sustainable development and peacebuilding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pat Jasan emerged as a largescale popular social movement in the Kachin region of northern Myanmar in 2014, with the objective of eradicating illicit drug production and consumption from the region. It has since been heavily criticized for its methods and opposition to harm reduction initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to understand better the cultural and psychological response to worsening drug issues that underpin the rise of Pat Jasan as a mass social movement. The paper contextualises two ways in which Pat Jasan frames the local drugs crisis: first, the sense of existential threat posed by drug related social harms; and second, the belief that 'all' Kachin households are negatively impacted by these harms. We outline the underpinning ideological beliefs upon which these frames rest. We discuss how even though non-Christian beliefs and practices have largely disappeared, they remain layered within the deep culture of attitudes towards drug use and how best to deal with the community-level harms that are believed to be created by such behaviours. Critically, the paper also draws attention to the largely unrecognized involvement of women as mobilizing forces of the Pat Jasan movement and how the movement leveraged popular feeling at a critical moment in the region's political history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many discussions of mafia and criminal entrepreneurs typically focus on violence and illegality, and less on their possible roles in rural transformation, even when they are located in borderland economies linking the subsistence cultivators of illicit crops to regional and global markets. This paper assesses the life stories of drug lords, the Castaño brothers of Colombia and Roberto Suárez Gomez of Bolivia, to draw inferences into how such rural elites in the illicit drugs trade are not only specialists in crime but are also actors who regulate and manipulate, often coercively, access to land and resources, mobilise labour and shape its divisions, and promote certain forms of capital accumulation. This paper contends that a better understanding of the roles of these rural elites as pioneers for capital, intermediaries in commodity chains, and arbitrageurs between state and borderlands may provide ways of unpacking key challenges to peacebuilding and economic transformation in borderlands where illicit economies thrive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we look at local effects of recent changes in how the international borders of two Afghan provinces, Nangarhar and Nimroz, are governed. Over the past decade Pakistan and Iran introduced changes to border infrastructure and regulation in an attempt to increase state control over both official and informal flows of goods and people. We consider the political rationale behind these decisions, then look at the consequences these changes have had on licit as well as illicit economic activities in the border region. The paper builds on field research conducted in Nangarhar and Nimroz from 2018 to 2020. We find that reducing the permeability of the border has affected life in the neighbouring Afghan borderlands in different ways. In Nimroz, an informal local economy existing between historically interwoven Baluch communities on all sides of the border is being crowded out by boom-town dynamics, external land acquisition and selective control of the border by foreign states. The impact of border enforcement is direct and drastic, damaging the survival economy of border communities and accelerating demographic change. In Nangarhar, we find a more diverse and adaptive local cross-border economy, with a history of utilising both official and informal border crossings for trade in licit and illicit commodities. However, measures taken on the Pakistani side have led to shifts in informal trade, and changes to patterns of competition and control over the most lucrative routes and hubs. In both cases, illicit cross-border flows did not cease, but they changed in character from more broadly accessible horizontal activities to professional and hierarchical activities using fewer trading hubs and corridors. The drug trade is not exceptionally violent or disruptive, but is part of a commodity market embedded in a wider, often violent, political economy dominated by local political entrepreneurs and their networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years there have been growing calls for "development-oriented drug policies" to tackle illicit drug cultivation in the global South. Calls to integrate drugs and development have been important in demonstrating the damage caused by the war on drugs to marginalized communities and in drawing attention to how drug cultivation is inextricably linked to wider development challenges. However, this paper argues that the emerging policy agenda to 'developmentalise' drug policy is founded upon a simplified and misleading conceptualization of the relationship between poverty, development and illicit drug cultivation. Most problematically, it overlooks the fact that people who cultivate drugs because they are poor are not just those who have been 'left behind' by development. They are also those who have experienced new forms of immiseration and precarity as a consequence of processes of economic liberalization, market integration and agricultural 'modernization'. Confronting this blindspot, this article analyses the drivers of rising illicit opium cultivation across parts of Shan State, Myanmar, since the late 1990s. The paper argues that if the current agenda to developmentalise drug policy is to make a meaningful contribution to the lives of the rural poor in drug-producing regions in Myanmar and beyond, it must confront the fact that for many households the decision to cultivate opium has been a response to the very processes of market-led rural development that policymakers claim will alleviate poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In British Columbia, Canada, illicit opioids have been increasingly combined with etizolam, a benzodiazepine analog, that continues to challenge popular portable drug checking technologies as it is often present in low concentrations as a result of its high potency. An unknown combination of opioids and benzodiazepines may have dangerous consequences due to unpredictable dosing, increased respiratory depression, and complicated overdose response measures.Methods: Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) using a portable Raman spectrometer is used to establish a univariate model for the detection of etizolam in opioid drug mixtures (n=100) obtained from the Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project, where the presence of etizolam has been determined using paper-spray mass spectrometry. Benzodiazepine immunoassay test strips are also performed on all samples for comparison.Results: SERS is shown to detect etizolam with high sensitivity (96%) and specificity (86%). In contrast, benzodiazepine test strips demonstrate a low sensitivity (8%) for the detection of etizolam of the same samples (n=100), with only small improvements when studied over a larger subset of samples (n=506, sensitivity = 29%).Conclusion: We have demonstrated the potential of SERS for trace detection of etizolam within complex sample matrices. Since SERS is one of the few portable technologies capable of trace detection, further studies on its ability for quantification and discrimination of trace adulterants in street samples is of significant interest for point-of-care applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The pricing of illicit drugs is typically approached within the risks and prices framework. Recent sociological and economic studies of prices in online drug markets have stressed the centrality of reputation for price formation. In this paper, we propose an account of price formation that is based on the risks and prices framework, but also incorporates internal social organization to explain price variation. We assess the model empirically, and extend the current empirical literature by including payment methods and informal ranking as influences on drug pricing.Methods: We apply our model to estimate the prices of cannabis, cocaine, and heroin in two online drug markets, cryptomarkets (n = 92.246). Using multilevel linear regression, we assess the influence of product qualities, reputation, payment methods, and informal ranking on price formation.Results: We observe extensive quantity discounts varying across substances and countries, and find premia and discounts associated with product qualities. We find evidence of payment method price adjustment, but contrary to expectation we observe conflicting evidence concerning reputation and status. We assess the robustness of our findings concerning reputation by comparing our model to previous approaches and alternative specifications.Conclusion: We contribute to an emerging economic sociological approach to the study illicit markets by developing an account of price formation that incorporates cybercrime scholarship and the risks and prices framework. We find that prices in online drug markets reflect both external institutional constraint and internal social processes that reduce uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The spread of illicitly manufactured fentanyl has the potential to greatly increase the fatal overdoses in many places in the world. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution of fentanyl use epidemic in Estonia.Methods: this scoping review is based on extensive review and synthesis of broad range of literature: research reports, newspaper, magazine, coverage of illicit fentanyl use; policy documents, position papers, reports released by government agencies, and surveillance data.Results: For an over a decade up to 2017, Estonia has had the highest overdose death mortality in Europe. The use of (injected) fentanyl is a major contributor to the Estonian overdose death epidemic. Shutting down a major producer and distributor of illicit fentanyl has been extremely effective in curbing the number of overdose deaths. Unfortunately, this supply-side intervention came ten years into the epidemic, and might be difficult to replicate in settings with decentralized production. In areas faced by fentanyl we would recommend large-scale implementation of opiate substitution treatment and naloxone distribution, syringe service programs to provide for safer injecting and link to other services (high frequencies of fentanyl injection create high risk for HIV and HCV transmission), and programs, such as "Break the Cycle," to reduce initiation into injecting drug use. Further, the means of responding to emerging substances should match the world in which different substances can be rapidly introduced, and where people who use drugs can change preferences based on market availability.Conclusion: Addressing illicitly manufactured fentanyl may serve as a public health learning experience for developing early detection and rapid response programs in rapidly changing drug use environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper includes the voices of people who are members of a peer-led drug user group (SNAP) in Canada who are receiving heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) outside of a clinical trial. Drawing from critical drug studies, we problematize the criteria for severe opioid use disorder (OUD) from the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, by exploring SNAP members' experiences in relation to heroin-assisted treatment, and examining how SNAP participants' narratives challenge conventional notions of what constitutes severe opioid use disorder.Method: Drawing on critical analysis and research guidelines developed by drug user unions and organizations, and critical methodological frameworks on ethical community-based-and-responsive research for social justice, in this paper we focus on semi-structured interviews conducted with 36 SNAP members at the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users site in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, Canada. We included opened ended questions about experiences prior to receiving HAT, experiences while receiving HAT, experiences of drug use and cessation, and future hopes.Results: Although SNAP participants were diagnosed as suffering from OUD, the DSM-5 criteria for OUD fails to encompass their diverse experiences of opioid use. Nor does the DSM diagnosis capture the complexities of their lived experience. The DSM OUD constructs an idea of addiction and the addicted person based on a list of symptoms thought to be associated with extended use of opioids. The problem with this is that many of these "symptoms" of drug use are, in the case of SNAP participants, tied to contextual issues of living in the DTES, experiencing structural vulnerability, and being the target of punitive drug policies and laws.Conclusion: To label someone as having a severe disorder shifts the focus from political and social issues, including the lived experiences of people who use heroin. The DSM-5 de-contextualizes drug use. How addiction and heroin are constituted has political implications that will determine what types of services and programs will be set up. Treating a disorder, or a person with a disorder, requires a much different approach than understanding heroin use as a habit. SNAP, and their allies, are rupturing conventional ideas about heroin and taken for granted assumptions about people who use heroin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]