Stigmatisation of problem-drug users

William S Burroughs II, the American Beat Generation author, published Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict in 1953 about life dependent on heroin (some editions use Junky). Junk was a slang term for heroin, possibly from users being seen as the “junk of society”, an early use of a stigmatising phrase.

60 years on, stigmatising labels for drug users remain topical, according to a report last week by the UK Drug Policy Commission, Sinning and sinned against: the stigmatisation of problem drug users. The Commission used a definition of problem drug use as injecting drug use or long duration or regular use of opioids, cocaine, or amphetamines. The Commission rather stumbled with this definition, because it wants to see the drug as the problem not the user. Use of the powerful connecting hyphen would have solved their dilemma: problem-drug user. They excluded “recreational” drugs, such as alcohol, cannabis, and ecstasy, but acknowledged that users of those drugs carry different stigmatising labels.

“Stigmatisation matters”, says the Commission. “We feel stigma exquisitely because we are fundamentally social in our make-up.” They conclude that problem-drug users are so strongly stigmatised that their ability to escape addiction is compromised in treatment, housing, and employment. Because of such stigma, the Commission feels, problem-drug users find it hard to be seen as blameless, like those with mental illness or disability.

The vote-catching rhetoric of “war on drugs” or “tough on drugs” means politicians and policy makers are simply paying lip service to the compassionate “road to recovery” as a goal for society, says the Commission, which wants politicians and policy makers to think more carefully about such rhetoric. As a start, the Commission also calls for the public, health professionals, and particularly the media to be educated about the effects of stigmatising drug users. A good example was set by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in his support of Recovery Month.

Perhaps determined to not call a rose by any other name, Burroughs' second book was entitled Queer—he would probably have written wryly about today's concerns about stigmatising labels.

@'The Lancet'