Responding to English drug policy: the co-production of discovery, forgiveness, and identity

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the lived experience of forgiveness and uniquely its potential for discovering and negotiating new identities for people dealing with their addiction to substances, within the context and demands of English drug policy. Little research has focused on the development of shared meanings of forgiveness in relation to the social relationships impacted by addiction, and this paper seeks to promote such work. The paper is emergent from a co-production project examining forgiveness and its relationship to identity with Pushing Change a peer community for addressing substance misuse. Identity is at the heart of debates concerning drug addiction and criminal justice, however, little attention has been paid to the ways in which interventions shape individual identity, and the meanings of those relationships to the wider community. Through developing an understanding of forgiveness this project identified generative principles that allowed for new ways of thinking and practising forgiveness in relation to addressing substance misuse and the criminal justice system.

KEYWORDS:

• Forgiveness
• English drug policy
• co-production
• generative principles
• social exclusion
• discovery agenda

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).