The perceived risk of illicit drug use and views on drug policy in the general population

Original research

Savonen, Jenni, Pekka Hakkarainen & Karoliina Karjalainen

Release Date

2021

Geography

Finland

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

Yes

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Yes

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

This article analyzes the riskiness attached to illicit drug use by means of a social representations framework. The implications of these social representations are further studied through their associations with views on drug policy: restrictive control and harm reduction measures.

Findings/Key points

Representational profiles were connected to opinions on drug policy: those who saw the most risks with use tended to support restrictive control measures, while those who considered illicit drug use to be less risky were more accepting toward harm reduction measures.

Design/methods

The data for the study is from a Finnish Drug Survey (N = 3229).

doi.org

Keywords

Policy/Regulatory

Illegal drugs