Political struggles on a frontier of harm reduction drug policy: geographies of constrained policy mobility

Abstract

This article contributes to the conceptualization of how policy models circulate by analysing the ‘frontier politics’ that occurs when a mobile policy meets resistance and constraint. We argue that advocates of harm reduction drug policy operate within a constrained political–institutional environment, but one that is not closed or predetermined. We make the argument in reference to struggles over harm reduction drug policy in Surrey, BC, a suburban municipality in Greater Vancouver. Thus, even at frontiers, policy change may occur, even if slowly, incrementally, or cautiously. In conclusion, we reconsider questions of constrained mobility, policy assemblages, and frontier politics to reflect on the character of, and possibilities for, policy change.

Keywords:

• policy mobilities
• harm reduction
• drug policy
• frontier politics
• geography

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to those who agreed to participate in this study. Comments by Nick Blomley and Kendra Strauss greatly benefited the larger project from which this paper comes. We also thank Tom Baker and Cristina Temenos for insightful comments, as well as the two anonymous reviewers and Ronan Paddison for guidance on improving an earlier draft. We are grateful to Stewart Williams and Barney Warf for inviting us to submit to this special issue. The usual disclaimers apply.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Andrew Longhurst completed his MA in the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University. He is a policy researcher based in Vancouver, Canada. His research interests include health and social policy, urban politics, poverty, and labour market restructuring.

Eugene McCann is Professor of Geography, Simon Fraser University, Canada. He researches policy mobilities, harm reduction, urban policy-making, planning, social and health policy, and urban politics. He is co-editor, with Kevin Ward, of Mobile urbanism (Minnesota, 2011) and of Cities & social change, with Ronan Paddison (Sage, 2014). He is co-author, with Andy Jonas and Mary Thomas, of Urban geography: A critical introduction (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015). He publishes in a range of geography and urban studies journals.

Notes

1. Unfortunately, due to data quality concerns with the introduction of a voluntary survey in 2011, rather than a mandatory census, we use income data drawn from the 2006 Census of Canada.

2. Calculated by the authors using average annual caseloads from unpublished BC Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation data obtained upon request from the Ministry.

3. We use the term ‘drug user groups’ although we recognize that defining people as ‘drug users’, as opposed to people who use drugs, can problematically essentialize them – defining them as if they are nothing but their relationship to psychoactive substances. Our intention here is simply to point out the focus of the groups in question.

4. In abstract terms, this is also a description of Vancouver's Four Pillars approach. In both cities, enforcement, prevention, treatment, and harm reduction are brought together and exist in tension. In concrete terms, however, the weight given to each and the tension among them are different from place to place.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and the Association of American Geographers Urban Specialty Group.