Positive drug stories: possibilities for agency and positive subjectivity for harm reduction

Abstract

People who use drugs understand drugs and drug use in ways that are often different to the way knowledge of drug use is constructed within the dominant medico-legal discourse. Their experiences are, more often than not, represented in negative ways within dominant discourse, a disconnect that can create adverse consequences for people who use drugs, through the production of stigma and shame leading to poor health and social outcomes. A key difference in how drugs are understood by people who use drugs is the capacity of the former to recognize positive aspects of drug use and create more agentic subjectivities for themselves concerning the use of drugs. Using a thematic analysis of the online forum Australian Drug Discussion, hosted by Bluelight.org, we identify positive drug stories and the contexts of their emergence, as subversions or modifications of dominant understandings. We argue that positive understandings of drug use, as well as recognition of the way their expression serves to generate agency for people who use drugs within or against the confines of dominant discourse, may provide opportunities to limit further the harms flowing from stigmatization and negativity.

Keywords:

• Drug
• discourse
• pleasure
• stigma

Acknowledgements

This material is based (wholly or partially) on data obtained from Bluelight.org. Bluelight.org is a non-profit online community dedicated to reducing drug-related harm. This work was conducted with authorization from Bluelight.org. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of Bluelight.org. Thank you to the Bluelighters who have contributed to this paper.

Disclosure statement

Monica Barratt is the Director of Research at Bluelight.org. No specific funding was used to support this project. The National Drug and Alcohol Research Center and the National Drug Research Institute are supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Drug and Alcohol Program.