Results of a participatory needs assessment demonstrate an opportunity to involve people who use alcohol in drug user activism and harm reduction

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Results of a participatory needs assessment demonstrate an opportunity to involve people who use alcohol in drug user activism and harm reduction Crabtree, Alexis; Latham, Nicole; Bird, Lorna; Buxton, Jane A.

Abstract

Background Drug users’ organizations have made progress in recent years in advocating for the health and human rights of people who use illicit drugs but have historically not emphasized the needs of people who drink alcohol. Methods This paper reports on a qualitative participatory needs assessment with people who use illicit substances in British Columbia, Canada. We held workshops in 17 communities; these were facilitated by people who use illicit drugs, recorded with ethnographic fieldnotes, and analyzed using critical theory. Results Although the workshops were targeted to people who use illicit drugs, people who primarily consume alcohol also attended. An unexpected finding was the potential for drug users’ organizations and other harm reduction programs to involve “illicit drinkers”: people who drink non-beverage alcohol (e.g. mouthwash, rubbing alcohol) and those who drink beverage alcohol in criminalized ways (e.g., homeless drinkers). Potential points of alliance between these groups are common priorities (specifically, improving treatment by health professionals and the police, expanding housing options, and implementing harm reduction services), common values (reducing surveillance and improving accountability of services), and polysubstance use. Conclusions Despite these potential points of alliance, there has historically been limited involvement of illicit drinkers in drug users’ activism. Possible barriers to involvement of illicit drinkers in drug users’ organizations include racism (as discourses around alcohol use are highly racialized), horizontal violence, the extreme marginalization of illicit drinkers, and knowledge gaps around harm reduction for alcohol. Understanding the commonalities between people who use drugs and people who use alcohol, as well as the potential barriers to alliance between them, may facilitate the greater involvement of illicit drinkers in drug users’ organizations and harm reduction services.

Item Metadata

Title	Results of a participatory needs assessment demonstrate an opportunity to involve people who use alcohol in drug user activism and harm reduction
Creator	Crabtree, Alexis; Latham, Nicole; Bird, Lorna; Buxton, Jane A.
Contributor	British Columbia Centre for Disease Control
Publisher	BioMed Central
Date Issued	2016-12-09
Description	Background Drug users’ organizations have made progress in recent years in advocating for the health and human rights of people who use illicit drugs but have historically not emphasized the needs of people who drink alcohol. Methods This paper reports on a qualitative participatory needs assessment with people who use illicit substances in British Columbia, Canada. We held workshops in 17 communities; these were facilitated by people who use illicit drugs, recorded with ethnographic fieldnotes, and analyzed using critical theory. Results Although the workshops were targeted to people who use illicit drugs, people who primarily consume alcohol also attended. An unexpected finding was the potential for drug users’ organizations and other harm reduction programs to involve “illicit drinkers”: people who drink non-beverage alcohol (e.g. mouthwash, rubbing alcohol) and those who drink beverage alcohol in criminalized ways (e.g., homeless drinkers). Potential points of alliance between these groups are common priorities (specifically, improving treatment by health professionals and the police, expanding housing options, and implementing harm reduction services), common values (reducing surveillance and improving accountability of services), and polysubstance use. Conclusions Despite these potential points of alliance, there has historically been limited involvement of illicit drinkers in drug users’ activism. Possible barriers to involvement of illicit drinkers in drug users’ organizations include racism (as discourses around alcohol use are highly racialized), horizontal violence, the extreme marginalization of illicit drinkers, and knowledge gaps around harm reduction for alcohol. Understanding the commonalities between people who use drugs and people who use alcohol, as well as the potential barriers to alliance between them, may facilitate the greater involvement of illicit drinkers in drug users’ organizations and harm reduction services.
Subject	Illicit drugs; Non-beverage alcohol; Illicit alcohol; Harm reduction; Substance use; Participatory research; Ethnography; Drug users' organizations
Genre	Article
Type	Text
Language	eng
Date Available	2017-05-08
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI	10.14288/1.0347344
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/61564
Affiliation	Other UBC; Non UBC
Citation	Harm Reduction Journal. 2016 Dec 09;13(1):37
Publisher DOI	10.1186/s12954-016-0126-x
Peer Review Status	Reviewed
Scholarly Level	Faculty
Copyright Holder	The Author(s).
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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