David Frank, Alex S Bennett, Luther Elliott, Joy D Scheidell, Suzan M Walters, Charles M Cleland
{"title":"An Examination of How People Who Use Drugs Conceptualize the Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Overdose Prevention Centers.","authors":"David Frank, Alex S Bennett, Luther Elliott, Joy D Scheidell, Suzan M Walters, Charles M Cleland","doi":"10.1177/00914509251346135","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00914509251346135","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>In 2021, NYC implemented overdose prevention center (OPC) services at two existing syringe exchange programs, allowing people to use pre-obtained drugs on-site. Although OPCs in Canada, Western Europe, and Australia have demonstrated their feasibility and benefits towards reducing overdose risk and drug-related harm, there is less data on how people who use drugs (PWUD) conceptualize the benefits and any potential drawbacks of using OPCs.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In June-August 2022, we conducted 26 semistructured interviews with people in New York City who used unprescribed opioids. Interviews lasted 30-60 min and were conducted remotely using Zoom and later transcribed by a professional service. Data were then coded, using AtlasTi, into meaningful categories using a thematic approach based on the aims of the study and existing literature.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Most participants had heard of OnPoint and reported a willingness to use it. They described the ability of OnPoint staff to reverse an overdose quickly and the presence of naloxone, oxygen, and other supplies as the primary benefits. Yet, many also noted that OPCs provide PWUD with a place to escape from the weather and/or avoid law enforcement. Participants also reported concerns about how far PWUD would be willing to travel or wait to use an OPC and for the autonomy of PWUD in the context of formal, sanctioned OPCs.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Results suggest that many PWUD in NYC are well-informed about OnPoint and are willing to use OPCs. Yet, to fulfil their potential, OPCs must be located near to where PWUD live, and should be made as low-threshold as possible. However, since it is unlikely that OPCs will be expanded enough to meet the need and because some PWUD will never choose to use in sanctioned OPCs, expanding the reach of alternative strategies, such as Mobile Overdose Response Services, is recommended.</p>","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"52 4","pages":"584-597"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12851624/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146087444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"\"A Double Decline in Character\": A Grounded Theory Analysis of Female Drug User Experiences in Iran.","authors":"Alireza Momeni, Matilda Hellman, Maziyar Ghiabi","doi":"10.1177/00914509241312578","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00914509241312578","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Using a constructivist grounded theory design, this study explores the perception and experience of Iranian women living with drug use, identifying everyday conflicts and coping strategies that enable them to manage their situation. We conducted unstructured, in-depth interviews with abstinent drug users (11) and healthcare professionals (2) at three rehab centers in Tehran, Iran. In line with our grounded theory aspirations to explore the social meanings of women's drug use and addiction, we supplemented the interviews with a surrounding material consisting of articles published in the main national newspaper from 2015 to 2018 and a film documentary (10 parts, 3 h) entitled \"Iranian Women of Addiction,\" (<i>Shab boohay-e-sokhteh</i>) (2010-2011). Our analysis resulted in two main bundles of meaning-making that we claim are permeating the everyday lives of Iranian women with drug use: the double decline in character, and self-shielding. The study reveals the simultaneous presence of two stigmatized identities: drug use and sex work (<i>fahsha</i>). It shows that the stigma of sex work is closely connected to a drug-related identity, irrespective of whether women are actively involved in sex work or not. The findings illustrate how societal views are biased against drug user women in the domain of drug use, diminishing their presence and voice. The interviewees tried to manage by developing a peer network, adopting a protective role, and becoming intrinsically motivated to quit drug use. The study furthers our understanding of women's alarming and complex realities in traditional Islamic and familistic patriarchal structures.</p>","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":" ","pages":"295-309"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7617874/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144592500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Civil Society Organizations and Harm Reduction Policy: The Mexican Case","authors":"Edgar Guerra, Guus Zwitser","doi":"10.1177/00914509231214344","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231214344","url":null,"abstract":"The present study offers an outlook on the current situation of civil society organizations (CSOs) in the field of harm reduction in Mexico. Analyzing Mexican harm reduction civil society organizations (HRCSOs) is necessary for three reasons: because they have historically represented a sensible alternative to drug policy proposals that emanate from the logic of the State; because they have the organizational and cognitive potential and the legitimacy to protect illicit substance users (with or without problematic use) from the risks and harms that drug policies may pose to this population; and because they are in a crisis that not only threatens the viability of their healthcare projects aimed at vulnerable populations but also, potentially, their own existence. The present article seeks to answer two questions—one descriptive and one explanatory: (a) What are the characteristics of Mexican CSOs that work in the field of harm reduction? (b) How do these organizations operate in a complex and dangerous environment? To answer these questions, the study uses data on the organizations’ structures and dynamics that were obtained through 20 semistructured interviews that were conducted with members of these organizations. The article describes HRCSOs on three levels: (a) the individual that establishes a radical habitus and acquires the identity of a harm reduction activist through identity construction; (b) the collective of activists that, through the creation of trust, becomes an HRCSO with its structures, programs, and resources; and (c) the harm reduction social movement that, through cooperation and conflict, becomes a field of activism. The study seeks to have two contributions to literature: (a) providing a preliminary mapping of the anatomy of HRCSOs and the field in which they operate; and (b) sensitizing society and decision-makers on the transcendence of these organizations for social and political life.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139270129","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chloe Span, Baillee Farah, Nathan Ivetìc, Oisin Stronach
{"title":"A Scoping Review of Australian Literature on People Who Use MDMA and Their Harm Reduction Practices","authors":"Chloe Span, Baillee Farah, Nathan Ivetìc, Oisin Stronach","doi":"10.1177/00914509231214342","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231214342","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Discourses around MDMA are often predominantly concerned with identifying risk and characterizing harm. Reluctance from Australian governments to reform drug policy and implement harm reduction services has created a policy and service gap, and it is therefore pertinent to consider how people who use MDMA mediate potential harms, and how this knowledge can inform approaches to drug use and policy reform. This community-led scoping review aimed to identify Australian literature on the practices of harm reduction strategies by people who use MDMA. Methods: Seven topic-specific and multidisciplinary databases were searched in February 2023 in line with conventional scoping review methodology. Eligible articles were published from 2002 onwards, reported on the voices of people who use MDMA as primary evidence within the context of Australia, and included at least one strategy to reduce harm. Data were analyzed by drawing on conventional content analysis and thematic analysis frameworks. Results: Twenty-three peer-reviewed and gray literature sources were included. Five key themes were identified on how people mediate harms and enhance the pleasurable aspects of MDMA use: drug consumption practices, planning and preparation, testing drugs, accessing health services, and community care practices. Conclusion: The results suggest that people who use MDMA take care to identify and reduce unwanted harms. The way people who use MDMA make decisions around drugs is mediated by peer groups and online technologies, as well as broader social and cultural contexts of drug use and drug prohibition. More qualitative, participatory, and action research projects are recommended to accurately reflect the views and needs of people who use MDMA and meaningfully shape service reform.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"BME-29 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139274556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Victoria Kostadinov, Natalie Skinner, Vinita Duraisingam
{"title":"Workers with Lived and Living Experience: Characteristics and Wellbeing in the Australian AOD Sector","authors":"Victoria Kostadinov, Natalie Skinner, Vinita Duraisingam","doi":"10.1177/00914509231210928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231210928","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction: Little data exists examining workers with lived/living experience of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use who are not in designated peer roles. The prevalence of these workers within the national workforce, and their levels of wellbeing, are currently unknown. The current study therefore explored the prevalence, characteristics, and predictors of wellbeing among workers with different types of lived experience (personal vs family/other) compared to those without any reported lived experience. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted of the Australian AOD workforce. Group differences were explored on variables of interest via frequency statistics, χ 2 tests of independence, multivariate analysis of variance, and linear regression. Results: Of the 986 AOD workers in direct client service roles, 2.4% were in a designated peer role, but 67.2% reported lived experience (34.5% personal lived experience and 32.8% family/other lived experience). Substantial proportions had not disclosed their lived experience to their workplace (27.4% with personal lived experience and 43.3% with other lived experience). Wellbeing (i.e., levels of burnout and engagement) did not differ significantly between groups. Predictors of wellbeing across all three groups included age, work intensity (e.g., heavy workloads), and finding work to be personally meaningful; additional differences between groups were also identified. Discussion: More than two-thirds of AOD workers in Australia have some form of lived experience, however this is not reflected in the number of peer roles. Initiatives that reach all workers with lived experience are required to safeguard their wellbeing, enhance recruitment and retention, and support best practice.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135868591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parental Substance Use as a Child Protection Problem: A Poststructural Interview Analysis","authors":"Simon Flacks","doi":"10.1177/00914509231208092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231208092","url":null,"abstract":"The use of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) by parents is a significant public policy concern, both in the UK and other jurisdictions such as Australia. Concern about the potential risks posed to children is also paramount in family court decisions, where AOD consumption is framed as a child protection issue in itself. There is a need, however, for more critical inquiry into the ways in which parental use is understood and conceptualised in family court practice. Based on interviews with social workers, lawyers and judges who have worked in Family Courts in England and Wales, the aim of this paper is to pay closer attention to the constitution of parental substance use as a child protection problem. Using methodological tools devised by Bonham and Bacchi (2016), and adopting their poststructural approach to interview analysis, the aim was to pay close attention to the ways in which “reality” was made in and through participant accounts. The focus on the granularity of what, precisely, was said in the interviews unveiled some valuable insights into the ways in which parental subject positions were produced and maintained. For example, the ‘traumatised’ parental substance user was a recurring motif which, while rooted in a more empathetic understanding of the challenges faced by parents, could – I suggest – have unintended consequences.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"215 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135888543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Twin Dangers of Order and Disorder: Rethinking the Relationship Between Movement and Change in Drug Treatment","authors":"Mads Bank, Morten Nissen, Steven D. Brown","doi":"10.1177/00914509231204945","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231204945","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we propose that the perpetual difficulties in drug treatment can be understood as a consequence of how a binary opposition of order and disorder continues to structure drug discourses and treatment practices. When drug use is seen as a disorder of addiction, recovery becomes reduced to movements between fixed points benchmarked against preexisting standards. This obscures how recovery could be understood as a process of self-differentiation where subjects develop new norms to adapt to changing life circumstances. In the article we draw on empirical material from a Copenhagen drug-treatment facility for young drug users, to analyze how change and development can be facilitated through a fundamental institutional “movability.” Drawing on the philosophy of change of Henri Bergson, the assemblage approach of Deleuze and Guattari, and the aesthetic theory of Jacques Rancière, we analyze how a particular assemblage of discourses, the organization of treatment and aesthetic spaces disrupt existing orders and open for different possibilities for participation and development for young drug users. In particular, we turn the attention to how aesthetic spaces and sensuous processes can counter stigmatization by overcoming the frame of “treatment” and the affective experiences associated with the categorization as a “drug-user” and facilitating the development of care as new ways of becoming and being-together.","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136032712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Erratum to ‘“Looking After Yourself Is Self-Respect”: The Limits and Possibilities of Men’s Care on a Night Out’","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/00914509231206861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231206861","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"32 1","pages":"558 - 558"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139322483","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Erratum to “Young People Who Use Drugs Views Toward the Power and Authority of Police Officers”","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/00914509231206859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231206859","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"66 1","pages":"556 - 556"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139322366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Erratum to “Ganja and the Laws of Men: Cannabis Decriminalization and Social (In)Justice in Jamaica”","authors":"","doi":"10.1177/00914509231206860","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00914509231206860","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35813,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary Drug Problems","volume":"54 1","pages":"557 - 557"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139322436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}