Att förstå drogmissbruk. Praktiken, situationen, processen

Abstract: While the purpuse of the study is to understand drug abuse through experiences told by individuals in life history interviews, the analyses moves beyond the level of descriptive life history. The interview material is interpreted within a theoretical framework, where the multidimensional character of drug abuse is considered. Three perspectives are applied in the analyses: (1) Practise: Different forms of drug use are seen as socially constructed activity spheres, practises, to which individuals are reqruited and in which they qualify. 2) Context: Drug abuse is also determined by a special life situation, i.e. a combination of physical, social and psykological cirkumstances. (3) Process: Individual drug abuse is finally seen in relation to the individual´s life course, where new life conditions bring about changes in drug use, and where life conditions are constantly affected by drug use.