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'It's their own fault for doing drugs'
Professor Julian Buchanan
Thursday 21 May 2009, 7.00pm
Glyndŵr University, Wrexham, Wales, UK
View the presentation and lecture notes from this lecture
Since the late 1970s illicit drug use has established itself as a major social problem. The response has largely been dominated by tougher measures to coerce people to accept treatment and become drug free or ultimately face prison. But after decades of tough drug policies our prisons have become crowded silos for drug users and people with multiple personal difficulties. Relatively little progress seems to have been made in reducing the overall size of the drugs problem or the proportion of people taking illicit drugs.
This lecture will reflect upon the way in which a ‘war on drugs’ is played out as a ‘war on drug users’. While most strategies have concentrated upon the physical and psychological aspects of dependence, this paper will highlight the important but often overlooked structural and social context of problem drug use. It will be argued that the stigmatisation of illicit drug use has made it more difficult for problem drug users to recover. Alternative conceptual models that promote a more inclusive approach will be explored.
The speaker
Professor Julian Buchanan began his career in 1974 working for Liverpool Social Services. He moved to the Merseyside Probation Service in 1980 and studied at the University of Liverpool to become a qualified probation officer. During his 15 years with the Probation Service he developed expertise working with drug users and was instrumental in establishing one of the largest community drugs teams in the UK and in developing a Merseyside drug policy based upon a risk reduction philosophy.
His master’s degree from the University of Bradford (1990) centred upon issues of criminal justice, drug use and poverty. He joined academia in 1995 and worked at the University of Liverpool and the University of Central Lancashire before joining Glyndŵr University in 2000. In 2006, following a sabbatical secondment to Oxford University, he completed his PhD by published works ‘Investigating the Social Context of Problematic Drug Use’. He was appointed Professor of Criminal & Community Justice in 2007.
At Glyndŵr University Professor Buchanan has helped establish a successful BA & MA programme in criminal justice /criminology and is a founder member of the Social Inclusion Research Unit. He has published widely on issues relating to problem drug use, criminal justice, learning and teaching. This has resulted in 18 refereed journal articles, 16 book chapters, and 25 conference papers. He is co-editor (with Professor Carnwell) of ‘Effective Practice in Health, Social Care and Criminal Justice.’
Attending this lecture
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