Socialno delo, Vol. 48, Issue 5-6
DRUGS
ARTICLES
Between National Guidelines and Practice: Drug Demand Reduction in the field of Licit and Illicit Drugs - 263, (Abstract)
Drug-related Issues as Seen by Students of the Faculty of Social Work - 275, (Abstract)
Safer Injection Room as a Reasonable Response to Needs of Injection Drug Users and Community - 287, (Abstract)
Alcohol Use Among Those Participating in Trips at the End of High School - 297, (Abstract)
Prevention or Pleasure: Divergent Discourses of Alcohol Intoxication - 307, (Abstract)
Working With Communities: A Feature of Multi-component Programmes to Tackle Alcohol And Drug-related Harm - 315, (Abstract)
REVIEWS
- 349
Abstracts
Ines Kvaternik, Liljana Rihter
Between National Guidelines and Practice: Drug Demand Reduction in the field of Licit and Illicit Drugs
The article is based on the analysis of the performance of Slovenian policy in the field of Drug and Alcohol Demand Reduction. Analysis of the key contents was developed on the bases of the analysis of interviews made by representatives of different departments in the field of Drug and Alcohol Demand Reduction. Key contents – the visibility of drugs and alcohol problems in the society, department contribution to problem solving, cooperation with others actors and future planned activities – has showed that departments in the field of Drug Demand Reduction, in the process of forming and performing politics, take into account the Resolution on national programme in drug field. Deficiencies appear on the level of data collection and exchange, on the level of sharing similar tasks among different actors, and on the level of co-ordination and inter-department co-operation.
Keywords: department politics, inter-department
co-operation, cost-effectives, urgent measures.
Ines Kvaternik is an Assistant Researcher, PhD.,
Faculty of Social Work at the University of Ljubljana,
Topniška 31, 1000 Ljubljana. Contact: (01)280 92
66, ines.kvaternik(a)fsd.uni-lj.si. Liljana Rihter is a
Senior Lecturer, PhD., Faculty of Social Work at the
University of Ljubljana. Contact: (01) 280 92 64,
liljana.rihter(a)fsd.uni-lj.si.
Nino Rode, Liljana Rihter, Vera Grebenc, Amra Šabić, Tamara Rape Žiberna, Ines Kvaternik
Drug-related Issues as Seen by Students of the Faculty of Social Work
Knowledge of drug related problems is important for successful social work. The data about were collected through the study of BA graduation theses of students at the Faculty of social work, Ljubljana. Paper focuses on basic concepts and the development of Slovenian policy against drugs. Analysis shows that themes from Resolution of national program on drug area 2004–2009 are insufficient framework for classification of the theses. The differences in approaches, sensitivity to the situation, methodology of gathering and analyzing data in BA theses are also important. Views of the students are described trough classification of the themes dealt with. The majority of theses deals with drug related problem situations concerning the drug user or their close relatives. Only a few theses study nongovernmental organizations. Some other organizations that deal with drug users are also presented in the theses. There are also some studies about the frequency of drug use among young people and rapid assessment of situation in some regions of Slovenia. It is shown that the programme at Faculty of social work produces experts well equipped for social work with drug users, nevertheless some suggestions for improvement of program for this area are proposed.
Keywords: drug policy; social work that accepts
drugs; harm reduction; BA graduation thesis; illicit
drug users.
Nino Rode, PhD., is an Assistant Lecturer at the
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Work,
Topniška 31, 100 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Contact: nino.
rode(a)fsd.uni-lj.si. Liljana Rihter is a Senior Lecturer
at the same Faculty. Contact: liljana.rihter(a)fsd.uni-lj.
si. Vera Grebenc, PhD., is an Assistant Lecturer at
the same Faculty. Contact: vera.grebenc(a)fsd.uni-lj.
si. Amra Šabić is an Junior Researcher at the same
Faculty. Contact: amra.sabic(a)fsd.uni-lj.si. Tamara
Rape Žiberna is an Assistant Lecturer at the same
Faculty. Contact: tamara.rape(a)fsd.uni-lj.si. Ines
Kvaternik, PhD., is an Assistant Lecturer at the same
Faculty. Contact: ines.kvaternik(a)fsd.uni-lj.si.
Ines Kvaternik, Vera Grebenc
Safer Injection Room as a Reasonable Response to Needs of Injection Drug Users and Community
For several years, harm reduction programmes have been expressing the need to establish a safe-injection room, i.e. a place where a drug user has a possibility to inject illicit drugs, with reduced risk and better hygiene. The question of the importance of safe rooms is placed in a broader context; not only in terms of preventing health damage but also in terms of reducing harmful social consequences of drug use on individual and local community. Our experience in the research shows that the place of use has a very significant influence on the performance of the different social roles played by drug users. The analysis of relevant literature, research, ethnographic material and experiences of experts in the field of harm reduction shows that the time is ripe to shift focus from responses which are directed to individual drug user (in order to change individual behaviour) to responses which will be directed to the community harm reduction. Safer injecting room could have a significant affect on a drug user’s quality of life. However, on the other hand, it could contribute to further stigmatisation and exclusion, especially if such a programme takes place under the public eye and without the support of local community.
Keywords: harm reduction, drug injecting, safe injecting room, policies, needs of drug users.
Ines Kvaternik, PhD, is a research fellow at the Centre
for Drugs and Dependency Research and an assistant
for Social Work at the University of Ljubljana,
Faculty for Social Work, Topniška 31, 1000 Ljubljana.
Contact: 00386 1 280 92 66, ines.kvaternik(a)
fsd.uni-lj.si. Vera Grebenc, PhD, is a research fellow
at the Centre for Drugs and Dependency Research
and an assistant for Social Work at the University
of Ljubljana, Faculty for Social Work, Topniška 31,
1000 Ljubljana. Contact: 00386 1 280 92 49, vera.
grebenc(a)fsd.uni-lj.si.
Matej Sande
Alcohol Use Among Those Participating in Trips at the End of High School
The paper presents the results of a research project investigating the use of alcohol and other drugs on trips made at the end of high school, following completion of the final matriculation exams. The main purpose of the research project is to identify the prevalence and rules governing alcohol use among those participating in these end-of-school trips. The author focuses on the special characteristics of alcohol use during the so called matriculation trip and what types of risks young people face due to alcohol use. The results show that the existing high level of alcohol use seen during the school year does not increase during the trip. The number of drunk students on the trip is higher with one-third of the interviewed participants being drunk every day. In total, more than three-quarters of the interviewed participants on the trip had been drunk. The research results point to possibilities and limitations in prevention work on the reduction of harm due to alcohol use among young people.
Keywords: harm reduction, adolescents, prevention.
Matej Sande is an Assistant Professor in Social
Pedagogics at the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana.
His fields of research and work are: use of synthetic
drugs and alcohol among young people, risk and
safety factors of drug use, harm reduction, non-profit
management. He’s a President of DrogArt Association.
Contact: matej.sande(a)guest.arnes.si.
Torsten Kolind, Karen Elmeland
Prevention or Pleasure: Divergent Discourses of Alcohol Intoxication
The article compares and discusses two different discourses of youngsters’ alcohol consumption in Denmark. On the one hand, there’s the authoritative medical health preventive discourse with formulated politics as for instance articulated by the National board of Health. On the other hand, there’s the discourse routed in everyday practices of parents organising parties for teenagers. The two discourses are seemingly rather different, however parents have no difficulties navigating to and fro these alternative worldviews. When asked in surveys about attitudes towards teenage alcohol consumption, the answers of Danish adults resembles official preventive guidelines as for instance delaying alcohol debut, separating youth gatherings and alcohol, etc. But when relating to the actual social lives and problems of their youngsters, divergent practices are sought by the parents, characterised by harm reducing and pragmatic initiatives.
Keywords: youth, alcohol, everyday practices, qualitative research, Denmark.
Torsten Kolind has a PhD in anthropology and is employed as associate professor at Centre for Alcohol and Drug research, Aarhus University. Contact: Centre for Alcohol and Drug research, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 3, 8000 Aarhus C., Denmark, tel.: 45 8942 6936, tk(a)crf.au.dk. Karen Elmeland has a PhD in Information and Media Studies and is employed as associate professor at Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University.
Betsy Thom
Working With Communities: A Feature of Multi-component Programmes to Tackle Alcohol And Drug-related Harm
This paper describes a »multi-component« approach to providing a local response to alcohol and drugrelated harm and highlights the role of community »mobilisation« as an important component of such programmes. Conceptual difficulties in defining »community« are recognised and the importance of understanding the heterogeneous nature of communities is discussed. Working with communities is seen as presenting a number of challenges, not least the challenge of addressing the balance of power between professional groups and citizens and the need to take account of potentially conflicting interests between different social groups in the community. Linked to issues of re-distribution of power, are questions of risk – to individuals and to the community as a whole, the danger of unwanted effects of intervention and the possible disruption of existing structures, networks and alliances within the community. The paper provides some examples of multi-component programmes and examples of different ways of interacting with communities to foster their collaboration in intervention programmes.
Keywords: power, risk, trust, unwanted effects.
Betsy Thom is a professor of Health Policy at
Middlesex University, London. She is a sociologist
specialising in research on alcohol and drugs and
editor-in-chief of the journal Drugs: education, prevention
and policy. Contact: Middlesex University, School
of Health and Social Sciences, Archway campus,
Highgate Hill, London N19 5LW, phone: 0208 411
5000, b.thom(a)mdx.ac.uk.