Hunt, Geoffrey, Moloney, Molly and Fazio, Adam. (2011). Embarking on large-scale qualitative research: Reaping the benefits of mixed methods in studying youth, clubs and drugs. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 28(5-6): 433-452. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10199-011-0040-1

Frank, Vibeke Asmussen and Hunt, Geoffrey. (2011). Social science research into drugs and alcohol. Public Service Review: European Science & Technology, 11: 354-355.

Hunt, Geoffrey, Fazio, Adam, MacKenzie, Kathleen and Moloney, Molly. (2011). Food in the family. Bringing young people back in. Appetite, 56(2): 394-402. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2011.01.001

Moloney, Molly, Hunt, Geoffrey P., Joe-Laidler, Karen and MacKenzie, Kathleen. (2011). Young mother (in the) hood: Gang girls’ negotiation of new identities. Journal of Youth Studies, 14(1): 1-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2010.506531

Fazio, Adam, Hunt, Geoffrey and Moloney, Molly. (2011). “It’s one of the better drugs to use”: Perceptions of cocaine use among gay and bisexual Asian American men. Qualitative Health Research, 21(5): 625-641. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049732310385825

Edited by Geoffrey Hunt, Institute for Scientific Analysis, USA, Maitena Milhet, French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, France and Henri Bergeron, Sciences Po, France

Drugs and Culture: Knowledge, Consumption and Policy

Current approaches to drugs tend to be determined by medical and criminal visions that emerged over a century ago; the concepts of addiction, on the one hand, and drug control on the other, having imposed themselves as the unquestionable central notions surrounding drug issues and discourses. Pathologization and criminalization are the dominant perspectives on psychoactive drugs, and it is difficult to describe drug consumption in any terms other than those of medicine, or to conceive of regulation except in terms of control and eradication.

Drugs and Culture presents other voices and understandings of drug issues, highlighting the socio-cultural features of drug use and regulation in modern societies. It examines the cultural dimensions of drugs and their regulation, with special attention to questions of how consumption of specific psychoactive substances becomes associated with particular social groups; the social dynamics involved in our coming to think of these phenomena as we do; and the factors that determine the political and policy responses to drug use.

Adopting approaches from anthropology, sociology, history, political science and geopolitics to challenge the prevailing pathologization and criminalization of drug use, this book provides international and comparative perspectives on drug research, based on the latest research in Europe, the USA, the Middle East and Hong Kong.

Youth, Drugs, and Night Life examines the relationships between the electronic dance scene and drug use for young ravers and clubbers today. Based on over 300 interviews with ravers, DJ’s and promoters, Hunt, Moloney, and Evans examine the different social groupings that make up the scene. The authors explore the accomplishment of gender, sexuality, and Asian American ethnic identity and critically analyze the negotiation of risk and pleasure within the world of raves and dance clubs. We learn about young ravers and clubbers’ frustrations with recent attempts to control clubs and raves and their skepticism about official pronouncements on the dangers of ecstasy and other drugs, in this book that pivots between the local, the national, and the global in its approach.