TY - JOUR

T1 - The Normalization of Cannabis Use among Young People

T2 - Symbolic Boundary Work in Focus Groups

AU - Järvinen, Margaretha

AU - Demant, Jakob Johan

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - This paper analyses ‘techniques of neutralisation’ among young people discussingcannabis in focus group interviews. The paper is based on data from focus groupinterviews with young Danes followed from when they were 14–15 years old in 2004until they were 18–19 years old in 2008. In this period, the participants’ attitudestowards cannabis undergo a radical change from being negative and sceptical intobeing predominantly positive and accepting; a change we describe as a ‘normalisation’of cannabis use. Four techniques of neutralisation are identified in thisprocess. First, the participants redefine the setting of cannabis use, simultaneouslycreating a new type of togetherness: relaxed social intoxication. Second, the effectsof cannabis use are transformed from being ‘strange’ and ‘unpredictable’ to being‘controllable’ by the individual user. Third, participants change their classificationof cannabis in relation to other substances. While 14–15 year olds draw a cleardividing-line between alcohol and illegal drugs (including cannabis), 18–19 yearolds put cannabis on the same footing as alcohol but differentiate it from ‘hard’drugs. Fourth, participants dichotomise cannabis use into spontaneous, social use,which they accept, and habitual, individual use which most of them reject. Incombination, these four techniques of neutralisation turn cannabis into a normaldrug: not normal in the sense that everybody uses it but normal in the sense thatcannabis use is seen as legitimate by both users and non-users.

AB - This paper analyses ‘techniques of neutralisation’ among young people discussingcannabis in focus group interviews. The paper is based on data from focus groupinterviews with young Danes followed from when they were 14–15 years old in 2004until they were 18–19 years old in 2008. In this period, the participants’ attitudestowards cannabis undergo a radical change from being negative and sceptical intobeing predominantly positive and accepting; a change we describe as a ‘normalisation’of cannabis use. Four techniques of neutralisation are identified in thisprocess. First, the participants redefine the setting of cannabis use, simultaneouslycreating a new type of togetherness: relaxed social intoxication. Second, the effectsof cannabis use are transformed from being ‘strange’ and ‘unpredictable’ to being‘controllable’ by the individual user. Third, participants change their classificationof cannabis in relation to other substances. While 14–15 year olds draw a cleardividing-line between alcohol and illegal drugs (including cannabis), 18–19 yearolds put cannabis on the same footing as alcohol but differentiate it from ‘hard’drugs. Fourth, participants dichotomise cannabis use into spontaneous, social use,which they accept, and habitual, individual use which most of them reject. Incombination, these four techniques of neutralisation turn cannabis into a normaldrug: not normal in the sense that everybody uses it but normal in the sense thatcannabis use is seen as legitimate by both users and non-users.

U2 - 10.1080/13698575.2011.556184

DO - 10.1080/13698575.2011.556184

M3 - Journal article

VL - 13

SP - 165

EP - 182

JO - Health, Risk and Society

JF - Health, Risk and Society

SN - 1369-8575

IS - 2

ER -