Bancroft Angus, Parkes Tessa, Galip Idil, Matheson Catriona, Crawshaw Emma, Craik Vicki, Dumbrell Joshua, Schofield Joe
The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom.
Contemp Drug Probl. 2022 Dec;49(4):369-384. doi: 10.1177/00914509221122704. Epub 2022 Sep 8.
The impact of COVID-19 itself and societal responses to it have affected people who use drugs and the illicit drug economy. This paper is part of a project investigating the health impacts of COVID-19 related control measures on people who use drugs in Scotland. It examines their roles and decisions as economically situated actors. It does this within a moral economy perspective that places economic decisions and calculations within a context of the network of social obligations and moral decisions. The paper uses a mixed methods approach, reporting on a drug trend survey and in-depth interviews with people who use drugs. It finds they were affected by restrictions in the drug consumption context and changes in the supply context, both in terms of what was supplied and changes in the relationship between sellers and buyers. Face to face selling became more fraught. Participants in more economically precarious circumstances were faced with dilemmas about whether to move into drug selling. The double impact of loss of income and reduced access to support networks were particularly difficult for them. Despite the perception that the pandemic had increased the power of sellers in relation to their customers, many full-time sellers were reported to be keeping their prices stable in order to maintain their relationships with customers, instead extending credit or adulterating their products. The effect of spatial controls on movement during the pandemic also meant that the digital divide became more apparent. People with good access to digital markets and easy drug delivery through apps were in a better position to manage disruption to drug sales contexts. We make recommendations in relation to how policy can respond to the interests of people who use drugs in a pandemic.
新冠疫情本身及其引发的社会应对措施，对吸毒者和非法毒品经济产生了影响。本文是一个项目的一部分，该项目旨在调查与新冠疫情相关的管控措施对苏格兰吸毒者的健康影响。它考察了吸毒者作为具有经济状况的行为主体所扮演的角色及做出的决策。这是在道德经济视角下进行的，该视角将经济决策和计算置于社会义务与道德决策网络的背景之中。本文采用了混合研究方法，报告了一项毒品趋势调查以及对吸毒者的深度访谈结果。研究发现，他们受到了毒品消费环境限制和供应环境变化的影响，包括所供应毒品的种类以及买卖双方关系的变化。面对面交易变得更加艰难。经济状况更不稳定的参与者面临着是否涉足毒品交易的两难困境。收入损失和获得支持网络的机会减少这双重影响对他们来说尤为艰难。尽管有人认为疫情增强了卖家相对于买家的优势，但据报道，许多全职卖家为了维持与客户的关系，保持价格稳定，而不是延长赊账期限或掺假产品。疫情期间空间管控对人员流动的影响还意味着数字鸿沟变得更加明显。能够很好地接入数字市场且通过应用程序轻松获得毒品配送服务的人，在应对毒品销售环境的干扰方面处于更有利的地位。我们就政策如何在疫情期间回应吸毒者的利益提出了建议。
