Drugs, alcohol and other vices

Citation

Klein, A. (2013), "Drugs, alcohol and other vices", Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. 13 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/DAT-09-2013-0039

Drugs, alcohol and other vices

Article Type: Editorial From: Drugs and Alcohol Today, Volume 13, Issue 4

The title of this venerable journal contains the conflicting message that alcohol is not a drug. While it is neither a reflection of the editorial position nor the view of most readers it underscores a widely held popular opinion. As it happens, the title was borne out of the realisation of there being two discrete groups of practitioners in health and social care who were working respectively with illicit substances or alcohol. Much has changed since the inception of this journal, there is a growing realisation of how multifaceted the patterns of problem use are, that users of illicit drugs frequently struggle with alcohol issues and vice versa, and that problematic habits have underlying dynamics which if unaddressed can simply project onto a new object. Individuals with problems can only benefit if professionals break out of silos. There is great potential, therefore, in the relocation of drugs and alcohol treatment services inside the new Public Health Agency. As part of this trend in merging schools of analysis we have over the past 12 months broadened the scope of drugs and alcohol to tobacco products and efforts at reducing associated harms.

What we have learnt in the process is that while many of the fundamentals are commensurable in terms of behaviour, control or the matrix of harms, the differences in the political context are colossal. Tobacco and alcohol are produced and promoted by large corporations that are well represented in government and society. Cannabis, coca and opiates, by contrast circulate underground, their promoters remain silent. Pressure groups are trying to open up spaces to allow consumers and producers more freedom, both as a point of principle and to mitigate the many baleful consequences of drug prohibition. When it comes to tobacco similarly construed groups – lobbying NGOs, academics, former users – are fighting for greater controls, a reduction of freedoms, and a closure of spaces where tobacco can be sold and consumed.

The normative ethical guidelines proposed by drug policy reformers are derived from the consequences of policies over the past half century. In the fields of alcohol or tobacco, on the other hand, advocates for stricter controls subscribe to an ontological argument with no consideration of impact or perversity. Restrictions on packaging, price, accessibility are prescribed because these are the right things to do.

This tension between realism and idealism in the debate around policy and practice can be traced back to the anti-vice crusades of the nineteenth century. Identifying brothels, pubs and gambling dens as battlegrounds, these campaigns were inspired by an admixture of priggishness and social concern. They were prompted by an urgent sense of having to do something in the absence of a then disinterested state. In our contemporary discourse we carry this legacy of wishing to impose a moral or religious frame on the conduct of others on the one hand, with the wish to address serious problems experienced at individual, community and societal level. Yet the role of government today is fundamentally different from the Victorian era, given the vast expansion of social services and law enforcement. All participants stand to benefit from recognising that similar discussions are played out across different topics and that their separation into distinct fields is an arbitrary construct.

In order to promote cross fertilisation of ideas we therefore propose to widen the ambit of the journal to other topics covered under the once vibrant rubric of “vice”. In 2014 the journal will include papers on gambling, with a view to promote a better understanding and find commonalities. Future issue may also venture into the adjacent field of sex work, already accommodated by the harm reduction movement and co-bracketed with drug offences as a victimless crime.

To avoid losing focus of the journal's core concern we will pay closer attention to word count and expand the number of articles in each issue. We hope that the emphasis on breadth will compensate the loss of depth, but will endeavour to continue to provide rich social analysis of problematic situations relevant to practice and policy.

Axel Klein