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      The normalisation thesis – 20 years later

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      Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
      Informa UK Limited

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          Most cited references21

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          Cannabis normalization and stigma: Contemporary practices of moral regulation

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            The normalization of recreational drug use amongst young people in north-west England.

            An anonymous self-report survey of drug use among a cohort of 776 14-15 year olds in North-West England was conducted at the end of 1991, aiming to estimate prevalence and profile users. Six in 10 reported being offered drugs, and 36 per cent to using drugs (20 per cent in the past month). Over half of those offered drugs had tried them. Lifetime prevalence was highest for cannabis (32 per cent), with five other drugs each being used by 10-14 per cent. Three groups identified were cannabis smokers, solvents sniffers, and stimulant/psychedelic (or dance drug) users. The population parameters of drug use were estimated at 33-40 per cent, suggesting up to 200,000 local young adults have used drugs. Most significantly, the proportion of young women being offered and using drugs and the prevalence of drug trying amongst young people in 'middle-class' schools, suggests a substantial social transformation is underway in respect of recreational drug use. The results of this survey confirm a general trend apparent in other British studies. As this cohort is tracked into the mid 1990s, the sociological implications will be significant.
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              The legacy of 'normalisation': the role of classical and contemporary criminological theory in understanding young people's drug use.

              Since it began in the mid-1990s, the debate surrounding the normalisation of adolescent recreational drug use has attracted considerable attention and has tended to polarise opinion within the field. In this article two of the main protagonists in the debate come together to discuss its legacy. Focusing on the twin themes of continuity and change the authors begin by considering the relevance of early developments in the sociology of drug use, noting that this earlier work anticipated much that has recently been written on the subject, including the emphasis on hedonism and consumption in leisure lifestyles. From here they go on to critically reflect on the role that structure and agency have played in the normalisation debate, suggesting that the original thesis underplayed the role of structural influences in favour of a rational action model of adolescent drug use. In their more recent work, both authors have come to emphasise how drug use is shaped by an interplay between social structure and human agency. While some areas of disagreement remain, they agree that normalisation is best understood as a contingent process negotiated by distinct social groups operating in bounded situations.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
                Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy
                Informa UK Limited
                0968-7637
                1465-3370
                March 30 2016
                May 26 2016
                : 23
                : 3
                : 187-189
                Article
                10.3109/09687637.2016.1173649
                b27e5d6f-91a0-4c86-bfbb-0a2e17636aa9
                © 2016
                History

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