EMCDDA Scientific Monograph Series EMCDDA Scientific Monograph Series No 4 15 5 17 AO-24-99-776-EN-C 15 5 17 The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Understanding and responding to drug use: (EMCDDA) was set up in the face of an escalating drug problem in the European Union and a lack of sound and comparable information Understanding and on the subject at European level. Established by Council Regulation the role of qualitative research (EEC) No 302/93 on 8 February 1993, the Centre became fully responding to operational in 1995. Its main goal is to provide ‘objective, reliable and comparable information at European level concerning drugs and drug addiction and their consequences’. drug use: The Centre’s tasks are divided into four categories: • collecting and analysing existing data; the role of • improving data-comparison methods; • disseminating data; and qualitative • cooperating with European and international bodies and organisations, and with non-EU countries. research The EMCDDA works exclusively in the field of information. Located in Lisbon, the EMCDDA is one of 11 decentralised agencies set up by the European Union to carry out specialised technical or scientific work. As such, the Centre is funded by the Community budget but is autonomous in its operations. EMCDDA Scientific Monograph Price (excluding VAT) in Luxembourg: EUR 18 ISBN 92-9168-088-5 Series OFFICE FOR OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES ,!7IJ2J1-giaiih! L-2985 Luxembourg › 4 EMCDDA Scientific Monograph Series No 4 Understanding and responding to drug use: the role of qualitative research PLANNING GROUP Jane Fountain Richard Hartnoll Deborah Olszewski Julian Vicente SCIENTIFIC EDITOR Jane Fountain EDITORS Gloria Greenwood Kathy Robertson Information on the EMCDDA can be found on its website (http://www.emcdda.org). A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2000 ISBN 92-9168-088-5 © European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2000 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER Contents FOREWORD Georges Estievenart 9 GENERAL INTRODUCTION Richard Hartnoll 13 Part I: The role of qualitative research INTRODUCTION 19 CHAPTER 1 The multiple roles of qualitative research in understanding and responding to illicit drug use Tim Rhodes 21 Part II: The impact of qualitative research on policy-making INTRODUCTION 39 CHAPTER 2 The impact of qualitative research on policy-making: setting the scene Virginia Berridge 41 CHAPTER 3 How qualitative research has influenced Dutch drug policy Ton Cramer 49 Part III: New drug trends INTRODUCTION 57 CHAPTER 4 New drug trends and qualitative research Louisa Vingoe and the EMCDDA workgroup on new drug trends 59 CHAPTER 5 Towards a trend theory Michael Agar 67 3 Contents CHAPTER 6 Antenna: a multi-method approach to assessing new drug trends Dirk Korf and Ton Nabben 73 CHAPTER 7 An early recognition system for drug trends in Berlin Reiner Domes and Ludwig Kraus 83 CHAPTER 8 Incorporating qualitative methods into a rapid audit of new heroin outbreaks amongst British youth Howard Parker 89 CHAPTER 9 Recreational life and ecstasy use Amador Calafat and Paolo Stocco 93 Part IV: Risk behaviour INTRODUCTION 101 CHAPTER 10 Qualitative research on the health risks associated with drug injecting: needle and syringe sharing Nuria Romo Aviles, Marina Barnard, Tim Rhodes, Fabienne Hariga, Urban Weber, Anne Coppel and Jane Fountain 103 CHAPTER 11 Qualitative research and community-level responses to illicit drug use Robert Power 109 Part V: Social exclusion INTRODUCTION 117 CHAPTER 12 Social exclusion: an overview Susanne MacGregor 119 CHAPTER 13 Using qualitative research to examine the nature of drug use among minority ethnic communities in the UK Kamlesh Patel 127 4 Contents CHAPTER 14 Understanding the social exclusion–problem drug use nexus Aileen O’Gorman 137 CHAPTER 15 Social peripheries and drugs: an ethnographic study in psychotropic territories Luís Fernandes 143 CHAPTER 16 Speed freaks, junkies and others — with drugs as companions Bengt Svensson 149 CHAPTER 17 Problem drug use, social exclusion and social reintegration: the client speaks Julian Buchanan and Lee Young 155 Part VI: Drug markets INTRODUCTION 165 CHAPTER 18 Exploring relationships between illicit drugs and crime: qualitative research across the European Union Howard Parker, Jane Fountain, Peter Blanken, Uwe Kemmesies, Letizia Paoli and Karen Ellen Spannow 167 CHAPTER 19 Retail-level drug dealing in Rotterdam Peter Blanken, Cas Barendregt and Linda Zuidmulder 175 CHAPTER 20 Illicit drug distribution organisation in France: methodological experimentation at three levels of research Michel Schiray 185 CHAPTER 21 Qualitative methodology at the edge: assessing Italian Mafia groups’ involvement in drug trafficking Letizia Paoli 191 CHAPTER 22 Welfare, crime and networking: financing a drug habit Karen Ellen Spannow 197 5 Contents CHAPTER 23 A qualitative view of drugs policing: heroin markets in Greater Manchester, UK Mark Gilman 203 Part VII: Drug services evaluation INTRODUCTION 213 CHAPTER 24 Zebra watching in rural England: the contribution of a qualitative process evaluation to a new drug prevention project targeting young people Neil Hunt 215 CHAPTER 25 Clients’ perceptions of the structure and operational characteristics of southern European syringe- exchange programmes: Pesesud-1 Anna Rodés, Catherine Pérez and the Pesesud-1 working group 221 CHAPTER 26 Using qualitative research to inform social policy on services for drug-using prostitutes/sex workers Justin Kenrick 227 CHAPTER 27 Narratives of recovery from clients and staff in treatment organisations Mats Hilte 233 CHAPTER 28 Treatment services for amphetamine users Sam Wright and Hilary Klee 237 CHAPTER 29 Problem drug use in Poznań, Poland: a qualitative approach to needs assessment Janusz Sierosławski 243 6 Contents Part VIII: Methodological issues INTRODUCTION 251 CHAPTER 30 Evaluation: a ‘realistic’ perspective Mike Hough 253 CHAPTER 31 Grounded theory and computer-assisted analysis of qualitative data: some proposals for the practice of qualitative research Odd Lindberg 259 CHAPTER 32 How to reach the unknown: the snowball sampling technique Uwe Kemmesies 265 CHAPTER 33 Engaging ‘difficult-to-reach’ young people in a study of inner-city drug use Paula Mayock 273 CHAPTER 34 Recruiting injecting drug users Rhidian Hughes 279 CHAPTER 35 A qualitative study of cocaine and crack use in Antwerp, Belgium: some ethical issues Tom Decorte 285 CHAPTER 36 Community fieldwork: bringing drug users into research action Peter Blanken, Cas Barendregt and Linda Zuidmulder 291 Part IX: Qualitative research within a global research agenda INTRODUCTION 299 CHAPTER 37 Qualitative research on drug use in the European Union Jane Fountain, Paul Griffiths and Richard Hartnoll 301 7 Contents CHAPTER 38 Selling stories to the masses: qualitative research and Australian drug policy John Fitzgerald 309 CHAPTER 39 Qualitative research on drug abuse in the USA Zili Sloboda 317 CHAPTER 40 Qualitative drug research in central and eastern Europe Michael Stauffacher, Dagmar Hedrich, Paul Griffiths and Janusz Sierosławski 325 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS Richard Hartnoll 335 CONTRIBUTORS 341 8 Foreword t is with great pleasure that I present this scientific monograph, which reflects the breadth and variety of qualitative research on drug use patterns and respon- I ses currently under way in the European Union. The monograph reveals that the qualitative approach is increasingly recognised in many EU countries as a useful tool for understanding the drug phenomenon. Its very publication also illustrates a general commitment to qualitative research and a desire to provide a more pro- found knowledge base across Europe on which to promote rational and effective interventions. These pages would not have been possible without the thorough and dedicated work of Jane Fountain, who brought together and edited the contributions into a coherent manuscript. Thanks are also due to the individual contributors for their time and effort, as well as to the participants in the scientific seminars which pro- vided the stimulating context around which many of these contributions were pro- duced. Last but not least, I would like to thank the staff of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) who initiated and fol- lowed through the projects which resulted in this comprehensive and insightful compilation. Georges Estievenart Director EMCDDA 9 General introduction General introduction Richard Hartnoll One of the major objectives of the EMCDDA is to promote useful knowledge for developing rational policies and effective interventions in response to drug use and drug problems in Europe. Qualitative research focuses on the meanings, percep- tions, processes and contexts of the ‘world of drugs’ and offers ways of understand- ing drug use patterns and related responses. It can be an effective first step towards generating hypotheses or identifying issues that require more extensive and system- atic data collection. However, its main value is to complement quantitative data and statistical analyses by helping to reveal and interpret developments behind the statistics. These factors