The substance of youth - the place of drugs in young people's lives today

By Perri 6, Ben Jupp, Helen Perry and Kristen Lasky, November 1997

7. The morality of drug use and its place in youth sub-cultures

We explored young people's sense of the morality of drug use and the place of drugs in youth society to discover whether young drug users differ from young non-users over what activities they consider to be socially acceptable.

Personal histories of drug taking
The vast majority of young people had experimented with alcohol and cigarettes under the age of 15.

Sarah (24, recreational user) is a chemist's dipenser from Kingston. Her interview provides a good example of some of the ways the morality of drug use and its place in youth sub-cultures are seen by young recreational users. Elements of her story will recur throughout this chapter.

Sarah said she started drinking alcohol when she was 13 and started smoking cigarettes when she was 15. She said she now smokes around ten cigarettes a day. Sarah started smoking cannabis when she was 17, and "now whenever it's around. I don't go out of my way to buy it - probably once every couple of weeks".

Sarah first tried ecstasy when she was 19, and now takes it about once a month. She also first tried speed when she was 19, and now takes it once every couple of months. She said:

I usually mix it with 'E', but it's preferable not to, health-wise.

Sarah said she has taken LSD about ten times since she first tried it when she was 21:

I don't have much interest now, but I would do it - the novelty's worn off.

She also first tried cocaine when she was 21 and said she now takes it occasionally. Sarah tried magic mushrooms once when she was 23.

Sarah said she takes drugs for both ther physical sensation they give her as well as the mental experiences:

It depends a lot on the drug. LSD is purely mental. I learnt a lot from it - you gain a sense of who you are, the whole universe. You sit out in fields and gain a sense of the earth and what ot is. 'E' is a bit of both [mental and physical]. Speed is purely physical and so is coke.

Our research found that many non-users (those who had not used an illicit drug more than twice in the last year) had tried cannabis at some point in their lives. Only 11 of 30 non-users had never tried cannabis. Problem users tended to have first tried cannabis at an earlier age than recreational users and non-users. Amongst those who had tried cannabis, 5 of 19 non-users, 12 of 33 recreational users and 17 of 35 problem users had tried it before the age of 15.

Most recreational users we surveyed had tried ecstasy and speed by the age of 18, and 19 of 37 recreational users had tried cocaine at some time in their life. A considerable portion (10 of 34) had tried smoking heroin, mainly reflecting the widespread use of the drug in Wythenshawe.

Several of the problem users interviewed referred to drinking and smoking regularly before their teens. This supports theories which suggest that early drug use is often associated with more severe drug abuse in later life. A large majority of problem users had also tried speed by the age of 18. Heroin use by problem users most frequently started between the ages of 19 and 25 (15 of 34 problem users), with 13 of the 34 starting before age 18 and some after the age of 25 (6 of the 34).

Preferred drugs
Amongst the 34 recreational users we interviewed, the preferred drugs were cannabis (21) and alcohol (11). Hallucinogenic drugs were preferred by very few, and seven recreational users said they would never take ecstasy, suggesting the anti-'E' campaign may at least be hardening attitudes amongst those who don't use ecstasy.

Attitudes towards drug taking
Sarah met her boyfriend (aged 20) at a rave. He works at an engineering firm. For Sarah and her boyfriend, going to raves is an important aspect of their social life - they are the only place they meet up with many of their friends. She agreed drugs are "somewhat important" in bringing her friends together:

[I have] two different groups - the 'do's' and the 'don'ts'. The 'do's' I met through raves. They live all round the country and are the reason I haven't stopped [going to raves]. My boyfriend and I have been discussing going to some places, but without the drugs. As it is, drugs do keep us [friends] together. We discussed with four friends if we could spend every weekend together without drugs. It's amazing at raves - ten thousand people and you always bump into the same ones, and it's the only situation you would.

Eighteen of 32 recreational users agreed strongly or slightly that "drugs can make it easier to cope with life", but "coping" tended to have a more utilitarian, as opposed to emotional, definition for them.

The majority of recreational users also agreed that "some people use drugs to be accepted sociably". But most recreational users said drugs were not important in bringing their friends together (11 of 30 agreeing "strongly" or "slightly").

Sarah said she used drugs just for excitement and exhilaration, and disagreed strongly that drugs "enhance her performance" in life. She said:

Drugs don't enhance anything I do - except 'E' helps me stay up at night. That's as far as it goes.

She maintained:

The wrong reason [to use drugs] is to escape from something and lose reality. Most people I mix with, it's just for excitement.

My sister used to go overboard. She used to sit in her room and take six ['Es'] at a time. It's hard if you're in that situation, but it got to the point where they enjoyed making total fools of themselves. Some people panic when they see someone stand up and black out - my sister think's its hilarious. It really depends how used to it you are.

I couldn't keep pace when I visited [my sister in Brighton]. I just burst into tears and told her, "You can't do this to yourselves." A lot of them got kicked out of university. They went so over the top, they barely do anything now.

Sarah said people who have taken too much "should always be helped". She said:

People usually learn from experience and won't do too much again. Everyone deserves chances.

Attitudes towards people losing control when they are using drugs were similar amongst non-users, recreational users and problem users. Over half of the people interviewed from each group said such behaviour was a "big problem" or "something of a problem".[47] People's criteria for what counts as 'losing control' may differ, but the sentiment that it is undesirable appears common. Similarly negative attitudes were found towards people borrowing money for drugs or borrowing drugs.

Attitudes towards legality
We found an extremely widespread belief that cannabis should be legalised, even amongst non-users (20 of 29 "agreed slightly" or "agreed strongly"). However, recreational users tended to believe more strongly than non-users that cannabis should be legalised (25 of 33 recreational users as opposed to 9 of 29 non-users "agreed strongly" - significant using a 95 per cent confidence level). The research also reveals a widespread resistance to lowering the drinking age, particularly amongst problem users. Very few of those interviewed thought all drugs should be legalised; the largest number was amongst problem users (9 of 34). But amongst all groups, opinions as to whether or not the law should be tighter on drugs were generally couched in terms of the extent to which crime and health risks to users might be reduced through government control of a legalised or decriminilised drug market.

Many recreational users thought the police should make fighting drugs a higher priority, often referring to hard drugs in particular (18 of 34). However, fewer recreational users held these views than did non-users (22 of 29, including 12 agreeing "strongly").

Recreational users' and non-users' attitudes differed significantly when they were asked about stiffer sentencing. More non-users thought sentences should be stiffer both for those who deal and those in possession of drugs. Thirty of 34 recreational users disagreed with the statement that "all drugs should be legalised".

Also amongst recreational users, agreement that "taking drugs does not harm others" was stronger the younger the interviewee's school leaving age.[48]

Sarah said:

Class 'A' drugs are unacceptable to most people in society as a whole. They tend to group them all together as addictive. Heroin and crack are unacceptable to me because they're physically addictive. But tobacco is, too. I would rather give up tobacco than 'E'. It does more harm, but tobacco is accepted.

The whole government attitude against drugs is wrong. I don't think they realise the extent of young people who take recreational drugs - LSD, 'E', speed. I've met doctors, solicitors, lawyers - they're all there (at raves) and they change their attitude to different types of drugs. If I got caught before going to a rave I could go to prison, but I don't think I'm a bad person and it's only for my own and my boyfriend's use. I don't think I deserve that.

Unsuprisingly, more recreational users agree with the statement "taking drugs is normal" than did non-users (24 of 34 recreational users as opposed to 13 of 29 non-users). nevertheless, the fact that nearly half of non-users think drug taking is normal attests to the integration of drugs into many youth sub-cultures.

Other moral and ethical attitudes
The Synergy index of 'puritanism' - which includes a range of outlooks such as the beliefs that individuals "should work hard to be moral" and that "strict discipline is in a child's best interest" - tended to be held strongly by equal numbers of young people who had tried drugs and those who don't use drugs (Figure 12). Interestingly, such strict moral values are actually somewhat more predominant amongst those who have ever tried acid or other hallucinogenic drugs and those who have ever tried magic mushrooms.

Figure 12: The percentage of young people with a strong 'puritanical' outlook is similar amongst those who have tried drugs and young people as a whole (percentage who hold a strongly 'puritanical' outlook)

All 15- to 75-year-olds	All 15- to 24-year-olds	15- to 24-year-olds who have ever tried any illicit drug
31%	17%	16%

Source: Synergy
Note: Because this index is an aggregation of questions, the scores can only indicate relative attachment among different groups (see Appendix 2).

Those who had tried drugs were as or more likely strongly to hold some of the social priorities which are increasingly apparent throughout British society - such as concern for the environment, an openness to learning from other cultures and broader emphasis on mental self-development.

Sarah described her interest in self-exploration, saying:

I trust my sister with any general problems, but I go to my mum for deep conversations about everything to do with life and death...On Wednesdays we go to a self-development group. It's quite spiritual, but not associated with any religion.

Our research also found more drug users than non-users to be concerned about the environment. Twenty-two of 33 recreational users said they would be "willing to pay 10 per cent more on their grocery bills if they could be sure they would not harm the environment", whereas only 14 of 29 non-users agreed. An even larger proportion of problem users agreed (25 of 35 - significant at a 95 per cent confidence level).

Sarah said she worries about the environment:

when issues come up. I get irritated when people are totally irresponsible. It doesn't need to happen - like friends throwing rubbish in the street.

I enjoy being out of doors and going for walks. My boyfriend's dad lives in a lovely village...We sat on the beach and watched waves all last weekend.

Conclusion
Despite extensive differences according to social group, there were some common threads in attitudes, both between the groups of non-users, recreational users and problem users, and between young people from different areas.

The first common thread was that young people in general considered it important that users keep control over the effects of their drug use, although there were different conceptions as to which drugs are 'safe'.

The second common thread in attitudes was a widespread agreement amongst both users and non-users that cannabis should be legalised, although this was much more strongly felt by recreational users than non-users.

Finally, we found that people who have tried drugs are no less likely to reject traditional morals, although neither young users nor non-users are particularly puritanical.

However, there were two main features differentiating respondents. First, problem users tended to have tried a number of drugs earlier than recreational users. Second, amongst recreational users, the perception that drug use by an individual can cause harm to others increased in relation to the age at which the respondent left school. This suggests that the general process of education may be a 'sophisticating' influence on young people's attitudes to drugs.