In this well-written and researched book, the authors argue that drug users, through a social process that deems them useless, are nonetheless put to significant use by a range of groups from governmental bodies to movie producers to social scientists that benefit these groups at the expense of drug users. Furthermore, it is argued that this process is damaging to both drug users and the broader society since it unnecessarily scapegoats drug users and diverts attention away from significant social problems. A starting point to reverse this process, the authors argue, is to de-demonize drug users and to reintegrate them into society by offering compassionate services that stress treatment, reducing harm and building sustainable lives.
“Othering” is a key social process – rooted in language – that creates negative images of drug users, according to the authors. Othering creates distinctions and boundaries through stereotyping, social labelling, creating hysterias and assigning blame. Media, cultural industries and government institutions are important forces portraying and reproducing drug users in a negative manner. Demonisation of drug users through strict laws and campaigns, such as the War on Drugs, is an additional way of creating destructive images of drug users. A central argument of the book is that these negative images of drug users, which have been developed and reinforced over decades, originate in the broader social structure. Moreover, the effects of structural violence, such as poverty and social exclusion, have been misrepresented as the effects of drug use. In particular, the problem of mass incarceration, which is currently receiving some scrutiny in the US by elected officials, is the ultimate effect of othering drug users.
The goals of the book include to: unpack the prevailing ideologies of drug users in contemporary society; to examine the social roles of drug users; and to challenge the social utility of portraying drug users as worthless – both in the sense of having no value and lacking values. Towards this end, the book attempts to answer four interrelated questions: what are the predominant images of drug users in the modern world; are these accounts accurate representations of drug users as they go about their daily lives; what explains the discrepancies between the images and the actual; and finally, what are the “uses of the useless” to the broader society? Both anthropologists, the authors bring an anthropological orientation to these questions by offering an in-depth treatment of the subject utilising a range of theoretical perspectives to make their argument. Also, the book benefits by the authors drawing upon and providing examples from their years of ethnographic work researching drug users.
In addressing these goals and questions, the book covers a broad range of material: an examination of race and gender; a historical look at drug users and the labelling process; drug users in literature and film; laws and legal constructions of drug users; and drug users in social science. In this latter chapter, the authors turn their critical gaze onto themselves and their industry – drug research – and how drug users are used. Drug research studies, while often directed towards the broader health of drug users and society, nonetheless use drug users as research subjects to advance careers, accumulate wealth, and accrue social status. Some of the strongest critiques, however, are found in the chapter on the legal constructions of drug users and how controlling drug users results in significant economic benefits for a few. For instance, as a result of the War on Drugs, drug users have unwittingly helped to advance overlapping private and public economic interests focused on expanding prison infrastructure and inmate population, i.e. “prison industrial complex”, become a low-cost labour pool inside and outside of prison, and encouraged civil asset forfeiture laws whereby local law encouragement agencies can claim and sell assets owned by drug users even if a person is never convicted of a crime. In addition to mass incarceration, strict drug laws have increased the harm to drug users through restricting access to drug injection paraphernalia, opioid substitution programmes and naloxone, which have led to increases in HIV, drug dependence and drug overdose.
Given that a focal point of the book is language, images and the social construction of drug users, the authors could have spent more time examining and unpacking conventional terms, such as “addict” and “addiction”, to better understand how such labels relate to stigma and the othering process. Also, the use of photos or other images of drug users could have been put to more effective use in certain chapters, e.g. literature, film.
Overall, the book offers a wealth of useful perspectives on the social value of drug users and will be a great resource for students, researchers and academics, as well as anyone trying to understand how drug users have become demonised over the past century. The book poignantly concludes by indicating that far from being others, drug users are us – our colleagues, our protectors, our children.
Stephen E. Lankenau
School of Public Health, Drexel University Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Email: [email protected]