‘It’s What Happens Now When People Go for a Drink’: Normalising Non-dependent Recreational Cocaine Use Amongst Over-35s in the UK

Craig Ancrum; Steph Scott; Louise Wattis

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-98286-7_10

‘It’s What Happens Now When People Go for a Drink’: Normalising Non-dependent Recreational Cocaine Use Amongst Over-35s in the UK

Craig Ancrum^*, Steph Scott, Louise Wattis

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

19 Citations (Scopus)

153 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Powder Cocaine is the drug of choice for many millennials (aged 25–40) and older, rising in purity and availability in recent years. This chapter explores lived experience of non-dependent recreational drug use (NDRDU) among ‘older’ people who use drugs in North East England. For older people in this study, a lack of self-stigma about powder cocaine led to continued, routinised or normalised recreational use, and participants subverted stigma by keeping within peer groups who they take drugs with, also avoiding condemnation and disapproval. Research focusing on recreational drug use continues to be pre-occupied with the experiences of ‘young people’. Our work illustrates that there is a need for future qualitative research which explores NDRDU (and drug use spaces) across different gender, age and socio-economic boundaries.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Drugs, Identity and Stigma
Editors	Michelle Addison, William McGovern, Ruth McGovern
Place of Publication	Cham, Switzerland
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Pages	221-246
Number of pages	26
Edition	1st
ISBN (Electronic)	9783030982867
ISBN (Print)	9783030982850, 9783030982881
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98286-7_10
Publication status	Published - 14 Jul 2022

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Keywords

Non-dependent recreational drug use (NDRDU)
Normalisation
Older people
Powder cocaine
Stigma

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-030-98286-7_10

SECOND DRAFT CHAPTER ANCRUM ET AL 26_02_21Accepted author manuscript, 508 KB

Cite this

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‘It’s What Happens Now When People Go for a Drink’: Normalising Non-dependent Recreational Cocaine Use Amongst Over-35s in the UK. / Ancrum, Craig; Scott, Steph; Wattis, Louise.
Drugs, Identity and Stigma. ed. / Michelle Addison; William McGovern; Ruth McGovern. 1st. ed. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2022. p. 221-246.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

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T1 - ‘It’s What Happens Now When People Go for a Drink’

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AU - Scott, Steph

AU - Wattis, Louise

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AB - Powder Cocaine is the drug of choice for many millennials (aged 25–40) and older, rising in purity and availability in recent years. This chapter explores lived experience of non-dependent recreational drug use (NDRDU) among ‘older’ people who use drugs in North East England. For older people in this study, a lack of self-stigma about powder cocaine led to continued, routinised or normalised recreational use, and participants subverted stigma by keeping within peer groups who they take drugs with, also avoiding condemnation and disapproval. Research focusing on recreational drug use continues to be pre-occupied with the experiences of ‘young people’. Our work illustrates that there is a need for future qualitative research which explores NDRDU (and drug use spaces) across different gender, age and socio-economic boundaries.

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ER -

‘It’s What Happens Now When People Go for a Drink’: Normalising Non-dependent Recreational Cocaine Use Amongst Over-35s in the UK

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Drugs Identity and Stigma

Final Reflections on Stigma and Implications for Research, Policy and Practice

Navigating Custodial Environments: Novel Psychoactive Substance Users Experiences of Stigma

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