Engelsk titel: Drug-related harm according to opiate users on buprenorphine treatment
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Författare:
Weckroth A
Email: antti.weckroth@a-klinikka.fi
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 31
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 07083986
Sammanfattning
AIMS: The purpose of this article is to analyse
the meanings given to substances as
intoxicants, medicine and treatment
from the client perspective in
buprenorphine treatment. How do the
clients construct drug-related harms
and how do they act to reduce the
harms?
METHODS: The material is ethnographic and
consists of participant observation and
client interviews. The data is gathered
from an institutional treatment facility
offering buprenorphine treatment.
Clients stressed the excitement of
heroin use as opposed to the safety of
buprenorphoine.
The negative aspects of amphetamins
are strongly emphasised. They did not
justify the need for substitution therapy.
The negative effects of heroin had a dual
meaning in that they also assigned a
positive user identity and justified the
need for medication. The safety aspect
of burprenorphine was linked to nonexistent
overdose risk and to difficulty in
tracing the substance in urine tests.
The function of burprenorphine
as an intoxicant was to restrict the
harm resulting from the use of other
intoxicants. The clients in substitution
treatment emphasised the positive effect
of buprenorfine as a medicine while
those in detox emphasised the negative effects. Treatment itself
receives positive meaning
when it offers belief in
achieving the personal
treatment goal and negative
meaning if it fails to do so.
CONCLUSION: The dual political role of
bruprenorphine as a life
saving medication and an
evil drug complicates the
status and role of clients in
buprenorphine treatment.