Drug places and spaces of problematisation: the melancholy case of a Hungarian needle exchange programme

Drug places and spaces of problematisation: the melancholy case of a Hungarian needle exchange programme Endre Dányi, Róbert Csák Drugs and Alcohol Today, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.- This paper aims to explore multiple problematisation processes through a former needle exchange programme run by Kék Pont (a non-governmental organisation) in the 8th district of Budapest. By presenting a collage of ethnographic stories, this paper attempts to preserve tacit knowledge associated with the programme and thereby keep its office alive as a “drug place”, the operation of which was made impossible in 2014. Drawing on the insights of Foucauldian governmentality studies and actor-network theory, this paper focusses on drug use as a problem in its spatial-material settings. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the contribution traces multiple problematisation processes and related infrastructures. From the needle exchange programme’s perspective, drug use is not a singular problem but the effect of multiple problematisation processes. Although those processes are often in conflict with each other, the question is not which one is right, but how social workers manage to hold them together. It is a fragile achievement that requires years of training and ongoing negotiation with local actors. By eliminating Kék Pont’s 8th district office, the Hungarian Government did not only hinder harm reduction in the area but it had also re...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - Category: Addiction Authors: Source Type: research