'Czar' warned to beware of myths about young people who use drugs

Nor can the Government's newly-appointed 'czar' hope to make progress in tackling problem drug-use unless his strategy acknowledges that drug cultures vary widely between different types of user and in different localities.

These warnings are contained in a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report by researchers at Demos, the public policy think-tank. Using data from a survey of more than 850 young people, it compares the attitudes of 16 to 24-year olds who consume drugs with the attitudes of young people in general. In-depth interviews with over 100 others contrast the views of 'recreational' users with 'problem' users.

It finds that conventional images of drug users are often wide of the mark. But it also concludes that the reality of drug use creates valuable scope for local programmes that involve young people and their families in prevention and 'harm reduction' strategies.

The study marked a search for new thinking about drug prevention, moving away from the polarised arguments about enforcement and legalisation. The surveys found that young drug users generally:

• trusted and respected their families in much the same way as other teenagers;
• tended to be more independent and less introverted than those who did not use drugs;
• made their own decisions about drug use and disapproved of 'out of control' behaviour by problem users;
• led active lives, viewing drug-taking as an integrated part of certain social events;
• were no more fatalistic than other young people or lacking in self-esteem.

Local drug cultures
The in-depth interviews with young people in Manchester, South and West Yorkshire, Kingston-upon -Thames, London and Brighton, revealed important differences between the drug cultures in each area:

• Most recreational drug users interviewed in Kingston, Brighton and Leeds viewed illicit drugs as a form of relaxation, alongside alcohol. Drugs were an integrated part of their social activities.
• In contrast, recreational drug users in Manchester's Wythenshawe district were unemployed and saw drug-taking as a means of filling time and obtaining stimulation. Drugs were their substitute for a social life.
• Users in a South Yorkshire mining village considered drugs an acceptable part of their social lives, but some were helping a friend to cut back on heavy use of amphetamines.
• There was evidence of young people 'maturing out' of regular drug use by their mid-20s. However, in Brighton, a number of older recreational users said they had come in search of 'the good life'.

Problem users
Interviews with problem users (who were mostly combining heroin and methadone with other drugs) confirmed the lack of any national 'drug culture'. However, they tended to have become involved with drugs at an earlier age than recreational users. Problem users conformed more closely to the stereotypes of drug users by being more pessimistic about the future and more socially isolated.

Perri 6, Director of Policy and Research at Demos and co-author of the report, said: "Our research adds to the evidence that there is no such thing as a national 'drug culture' in Britain, or even 'drug cultures'. Drugs play different roles in different youth cultures and in different parts of the country."

He added: "This suggests that unless the Government's new drugs 'czar' is prepared to recognise local differences in drug cultures, his effectiveness will be undermined. Whether our aim is to dissuade young people from using illicit drugs in the first place or to minimise the harm to those that do, there can be no national blueprint.

"The most useful role for the drugs czar would be to champion the spread of local preventive programmes and to spread the word about best practice. Most drug-taking by young people occurs as part of a leisure activity. They do not see it as the central part of their life, nor do they regard it as deviant. The last thing we need is a General leading a 'war on drugs' against the nation's youth."