Work

The Silent “G”: A Case Study in the Production of “Drugs” and “Drug Problems”

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: This article focuses on “G” in the United Kingdom (UK), G being the collective term for gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and gammabutyrolactone (GBL). Drawing on empirical data and taking a critical drug studies perspective, we use G as a case study in how drug cultures move through phases whereby a diffuse and contested network of emergent practices, agencies, and processes become progressively ordered into a more stable and conventional set of problems and actors, here G and the “G problem.” The production of former “legal high” G as a particular kind of drug in this network has shaped its relative neglect within UK research, policy, and practice as compared to mephedrone, another former legal high. Our case study supports the longstanding observation that researchers, policy makers and practitioners contribute to the performative and material constitution of “drugs” and “drug problems,” upon which we reflect in our conclusion.

Source: Contemporary Drug Problems

DOI: 10.1177/009145091203900309

Authors: Karenza Moore, Fiona Measham

Language: English

Topic: Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis

Subfield: Toxicology

Field: Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institute for Health and Care Research, Department of Health and Social Care

Award: BEhaviour change to reduce Pain in Knee Osteoarthritis (BEPKO-2): A feasibility study

OpenAlex ID: W2006173765

FWCI: 2.05

Cites: 63

Cited by: 13

Related to: 10