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Everyday drug diversions: A qualitative study of the illicit exchange and non-medical use of prescription stimulants on a university campus

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  • Vrecko, Scott

Abstract

This article investigates everyday experiences and practises that are associated with processes of pharmaceuticalization and with practices of ‘drug diversion’—that is, the illicit exchange and non-medical use of prescription drugs. It reports results from a qualitative study that was designed to examine the everyday dimensions of non-medical prescription stimulant use among students on an American university campus, which involved 38 semi-structured interviews with individuals who used prescription stimulants as a means of improving academic performance. While discussions of drug diversion are often framed in terms of broad, population-level patterns and demographic trends, the present analysis provides a complementary sociocultural perspective that is attuned to the local and everyday phenomena. Results are reported in relation to the acquisition of supplies of medications intended for nonmedical use. An analysis is provided which identifies four different sources of diverted medications (friends; family members; black-market vendors; deceived clinicians), and describes particular sets of understandings, practices and experiences that arise in relation to each different source. Findings suggest that at the level of everyday experience and practice, the phenomenon of prescription stimulant diversion is characterised by a significant degree of complexity and heterogeneity.

Suggested Citation

  • Vrecko, Scott, 2015. "Everyday drug diversions: A qualitative study of the illicit exchange and non-medical use of prescription stimulants on a university campus," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 297-304.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:131:y:2015:i:c:p:297-304
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.10.016
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bell, Susan E. & Figert, Anne E., 2012. "Medicalization and pharmaceuticalization at the intersections: Looking backward, sideways and forward," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(5), pages 775-783.
    2. Fox, N.J. & Ward, K.J. & O'Rourke, A.J., 2005. "The 'expert patient': empowerment or medical dominance? The case of weight loss, pharmaceutical drugs and the Internet," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(6), pages 1299-1309, March.
    3. Henry Greely & Barbara Sahakian & John Harris & Ronald C. Kessler & Michael Gazzaniga & Philip Campbell & Martha J. Farah, 2008. "Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy," Nature, Nature, vol. 456(7223), pages 702-705, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Diogo Silva da Cunha & Hélder Raposo, 2022. "A New Time of Reckoning, a Time for New Reckoning: Views on Health and Society, Tensions between Medicine and the Social Sciences, and the Process of Medicalization," Societies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-51, August.
    2. Pawson, Mark & Kelly, Brian C., 2022. "Balancing consumption and constraint: Binge drinking, stimulant misuse, and relational capital among young adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 309(C).
    3. Dassieu, Lise & Kaboré, Jean-Luc & Choinière, Manon & Arruda, Nelson & Roy, Élise, 2020. "Painful lives: Chronic pain experience among people who use illicit drugs in Montreal (Canada)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).

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