Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Middlesex University, United Kingdom.
Int J Drug Policy. 2020 Jun;80:102479. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.05.022. Epub 2019 May 31.
There has been a significant change in the types of substances consumed within English prison settings in the last eight years. There have been particular concerns regarding the acceleration in the use and availability of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), mainly synthetic cannabinoids. Although NPS were identified as a 'problem' in prisons in 2011, government responses emerged only in 2015. As yet, there is no overarching policy document or strategy for dealing with NPS. This paper analyses the various strands of the response to NPS in prisons published from January 2015 to December 2016.
Drawing on Bacchi's 'What's the problem represented to be' framework, the ways in which the NPS 'problem' in prisons has been represented is analysed through a number of related policy texts including press releases, new legislative and regulatory measures, government documents and training package.
From the various measures introduced to deal with the 'problem', NPS use is produced primarily as a law, order and control 'problem' requiring regulation, penalties and control, rather than a 'demand problem' calling for prevention, education, treatment and harm reduction or a 'regime problem' demanding greater emphasis and resources for purposeful activities such as education, training and work opportunities. This problematisation of drug use in prisons has a history dating back to the 1995 prison drug strategy and has become entrenched and reproduced within policy development over time.
The law, order, and control problematization blames the volatility of the substances and the individual prisoners who use them as key factors contributing to the current prison crisis, rather than as consequences of the wider practices, cultures, contexts, and conditions. Multiple representations of the problem of NPS in prisons are needed in order to address the regime and structural issues which lead those imprisoned to use substances.
在过去八年中，英国监狱环境中消耗物质的类型发生了重大变化。人们特别关注新精神活性物质（NPS）的使用和可获得性的加速，主要是合成大麻素。尽管 2011 年就已经将 NPS 确认为监狱中的“问题”，但政府的应对措施直到 2015 年才出现。到目前为止，还没有针对 NPS 的总体政策文件或应对策略。本文分析了 2015 年 1 月至 2016 年 12 月期间发表的有关监狱中 NPS 应对措施的各个方面。
借鉴 Bacchi 的“问题代表什么”框架，通过多项相关政策文本（包括新闻稿、新立法和监管措施、政府文件和培训包）分析监狱中 NPS“问题”的代表性方式。
从为解决“问题”而引入的各种措施来看，NPS 的使用主要被视为法律、秩序和控制“问题”，需要加以规范、处罚和控制，而不是需要预防、教育、治疗和减少伤害或需要更加强调和资源的“需求问题”，以开展有针对性的活动，如教育、培训和工作机会。这种对监狱吸毒问题的法律、秩序和控制的问题化可以追溯到 1995 年的监狱毒品战略，并随着时间的推移在政策制定中变得根深蒂固和重复出现。
法律、秩序和控制问题化将物质的不稳定性和使用它们的个别囚犯归咎为导致当前监狱危机的关键因素，而不是更广泛的实践、文化、背景和条件的后果。需要对监狱中 NPS 问题进行多种表述，以解决导致被监禁者使用物质的制度和结构性问题。
