Imaginary Drug Control and the Failures of Contemporary Australian Drug Policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11057442 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Margaret Pereira (0000-0003-0959-8734, Queensland University of Technology, corresponding author), John Scott (0000-0002-1672-4199, Queensland University of Technology), Amanda Beem (Queensland University of Technology) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 29-42 |
| Publication date | 2020-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Contemporary Drug Problems (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0091-4509 • E-ISSN: 2163-1808 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0091450920905372 |
| OpenAlex | W3011620813 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 34 |
Contemporary Australian drug policy is characterized by a tension between punitive law and order responses that invoke the myth of sovereign power and responsibilizing strategies that “(re)moralize” individuals, holding them responsible for their safety, security, and well-being. This article argues that this blending of neoliberal techniques of governance, such as harm minimization, with neoconservative methods of rule typified in prohibitionist policies, presents a paradoxical policy response to illicit drug use. We explore the development and contemporary practice of a dualistic Australian drug policy that, on the one hand, promotes pragmatic interventions based on harm reduction while, on the other, relies on law and order strategies and traditional penal powers to deter illicit drug use. Drawing on Pat Carlen’s concept of imaginary penalities, we argue that this imaginary form of drug control is underpinned largely by symbolic measures that, in attempting to address public demands for safety and security, reproduce a punitive form of governance that fails to achieve its desired outcomes. Using qualitative interview data from a sample of 29 people who used drugs, and 15 professionals working in the drugs field, this article investigates responses to the contemporary governance of illicit drugs in Queensland. Based on the research findings, we argue that the conjoined nature of Australian drugs governance can be understood as imaginary drug control because it constantly recreates the conditions that perpetuate drug-related harm
Business · Corporate governance · Crime control · Criminal justice · Drug control · Harm · Harm reduction · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Public health · Punitive damages · Sociology · Sovereignty · The Imaginary · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Law · Medicine · Psychology
The impact of pseudoephedrine regulation at Australian pharmacies through Project Stop
A reflection on improving the lives of people who use and inject drugs
Experiences with compounding surveillance and social control as a barrier to safe consumption service access
Operational and contextual barriers to accessing supervised consumption services in two Canadian cities
Framing drug policy reform
Choreographing, tailoring and dialoguing care in residential rehabilitation
Urine Samples and Drug-Body-Treatment Assemblages
The Culture of Control
A critical review of the harm minimization ideology in Australia
Criminal Justice and Political Cultures
Addiction and personal responsibility as solutions to the contradictions of neoliberal consumerism
Harm reduction as paradigm
Governing through problems
Articulating addiction in alcohol and other drug policy
Understanding policy persistence—The case of police drug detection dog policy in NSW, Australia
Examining the construction and representation of drugs as a policy problem in Australia's National Drug Strategy documents 1985–2010
Governing drug use through partnerships
Volatile and Contradictory Punishment
Problematizations in Alcohol Policy
Enacting Alcohol and Other Drug (Testing)-Related Harms in an Australian Drug Court
Knowledge, Embodiment and Neo-Liberal Drug Policy
With Scenes of Blood and Pain
Government and Control
The Limits of the Sovereign State
Drugs, Crime and Social Exclusion
What is policy failure? A primer to help navigate the maze
The Never-Ending Drug War
Irrational Addicts and Responsible Pleasure Seekers
Don't leave us this way
The legacy of 'normalisation
Governmentality' and the Problem of Crime
The addict as victim
Frameworks of Inquiry in the Sociology of Punishment
Putting at risk what we know
Harm reduction and the ethics of drug use
The normalizing role of rationalist assumptions in the institutional embedding of neoliberalism
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 7 |