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Background: We study the significance of stories about bad trips among users of psychedelics. Drawing on narrative theory, we describe the characteristics of such stories and explore the work they do.Methods: In-depth qualitative interviews with 50 Norwegian users of psychedelics.Results: Almost all participants had frightening experiences when using psychedelics and many described these as bad trips. The key feature of a bad trip was a feeling of losing oneself or going crazy, or ego dissolution. Most users said that these experiences could be avoided by following certain rules, based on tacit knowledge in the subcultures of users. Possessing such knowledge was part of symbolic boundary work that distinguished between drug culture insiders and outsiders. Some also rejected the validity of the term bad trip altogether, arguing that such experiences reflected the lack of such competence. Finally, and most importantly, most participants argued that unpleasant experiences during bad trips had been beneficial and had sometimes given them deep existential and life-altering insights.Conclusion: Bad trip experiences are common among users of psychedelics. Such experiences are often transformed into valuable experiences through storytelling. Bad trip narratives may be a potent coping mechanism for users of psychedelics in non-controlled environments, enabling them to make sense of frightening experiences and integrate these into their life stories. Such narrative sense-making, or narrative work, facilitates the continued use of psychedelics, even after unpleasant experiences with the drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this study, we use assemblage theory to investigate the link between alcohol use and one-night stands.Methods: The data come from qualitative interviews conducted with 104 young participants in the night-time economy.Results: We show that: (i) alcohol-fuelled sexual explorations (e.g. erotic fantasizing, flirting and sex) are of paramount importance for young partygoers; (ii) sexualized territories (e.g. private parties, rural feasts and the backseat of cars) significantly shape the experience and performance of one-night stands; and (iii) contrary to previous research, one-night stands are to a large degree associated with pleasure-the immediate pleasure of having sex and the long-term pleasure of telling about it to others.Conclusion: We argue that drunken one-night stands are part and parcel of a drinking culture that places high value on sexual encounters and personal sex stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life-stories emerge from a wide variety of facts and events in individual lives and weave a selected few of these together to make meaning in the present. They are crucial for constructing identity and influence action by establishing worldviews and a persona that narrators will seek to confirm. In this study we describe three main themes in the life-stories of six incarcerated men in Argentina: a) Protecting family, especially parents; b) reconstructing an ideal past, and contrasting it with a more cynical present; and c) blaming criminal neighborhoods, friends, and girlfriends for their crimes. We discuss how these themes are intertwined, what function they fulfill, and the identities and masculinities they produce. Combining research on life-stories with narrative and psychosocial criminology the analysis reveals how life-stories of incarcerated men can be seen as attempts at countering stigma and defending a self that is under attack. The life-stories portray a believable, 'good', and multifaceted image of the self, but most importantly, create coherence and unity in otherwise chaotic lives., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The epidemic psychology of pandemics creates an atmosphere of panic and fear that can expedite new laws and facilitate criminogenic narrative arousal. Using narrative criminology, we discuss crimes that emerged from pandemic narratives in the early phases of the disease in Mexico. We show how pandemic master narratives have unexpected criminogenic effects; can be negotiated to make them criminogenic; and are opposed by more fundamentally criminogenic counter-narratives. We also show how pandemics repurpose justifications for traditional crimes and offer an opportunity for narrative repositioning of "criminals". Societal crises intensify the continuous narrative negotiation that always underlies the meaning of crime. Pandemics can therefore act as a prism through which social scientists can see how crime is an ongoing narrative accomplishment., (© The Author(s) 2020.)

Background: Ecstasy pills with MDMA as the main ingredient were introduced in many European countries in the 1980s, and were often linked to the rave and club scenes. However, use gradually levelled off, in part as a response to increased concerns about possible mental health consequences and fatalities. Extensive use of MDMA now seems to be re-emerging in many countries. In this study, we investigated the cultural and social meaning associated with MDMA use in Oslo, Norway, with an emphasis on how users distinguish MDMA crystals and powder from "old ecstasy pills"., Methods: Qualitative in-depth interviews (n=31, 61,3% males) were conducted with young adult party-goers and recreational MDMA/ecstasy users (20-34 years old, mean age 26.2 years)., Results: Research participants emphasised three important perceived differences between the MDMA crystals and ecstasy pills: (i) The effects of MDMA were described as better than ecstasy; (ii) MDMA was regarded as a safer drug; (iii) Users of MDMA crystals were described as more distinct from and less anchored in out-of-fashion rave culture than those using ecstasy. These differences were an important part of the symbolic boundary work MDMA users engaged in when justifying their drug use., Conclusion: MDMA has re-emerged as an important psychoactive substance in Oslo's club scene. One important reason for this re-emergence seems to be its perceived differentiation from ecstasy pills, even though the active ingredient in both drugs is MDMA. This perceived distinction between MDMA and ecstasy reveals the importance of social and symbolic meanings in relation to psychoactive substance use. Insights from this study can be important in terms of understanding how trends in drug use develop and how certain drugs gain or lose popularity., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aims: To study the characteristics, contexts and implications of drinking stories among young drinkers., Methods: Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted among Danish youth at a beach resort in Bulgaria. The fieldwork included three months of participant observation and 45 semi-structured interviews with a total of 104 tourists and 11 guides. The participants in the study were aged between 16 and 26 years., Results: The participants often shared drinking stories with each other. The stories they told involved alcohol consumption followed by one or several acts of transgression such as stripping, fighting or vomiting. They generally told the stories with amusement or pride. However, some stories were told in a critical tone and focused on negative experiences. The data suggest that for many participants, part of their reason for engaging in heavy drinking and drunken transgressions was that they wanted to build a repertoire of personal drinking stories. Their drinking behaviour was subtly motivated, inspired and guided by the drinking stories that they heard from others, as well as by the drinking stories that they themselves wanted to create., Conclusion: There is an intimate interactional relationship between drinking behaviour and drinking stories. Drinking behaviours can generate stories, but the stories, in turn, influence behaviours and attitudes related to alcohol. Drinking stories are therefore key to understanding drinking among youth., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In a qualitative study, we investigated the medical motives of 100 Norwegian cannabis users, none of whom had legal access to medical cannabis. Cannabis was used therapeutically for conditions such as multiple sclerosis, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and rheumatism, as well as for quality of life conditions such as quality of sleep, relaxation and wellbeing. The borders between medical and recreational cannabis use were blurred. This article identifies strategies of medical cannabis users to gain social acceptance. Several respondents downplayed effects such as intoxication and euphoria. Others used the language of medicine and knowledge of current research in psychopharmacology. Cannabis was contrasted with the potential for abuse of prescription medicines. The medical cannabis movement has had little success in Norway. Medical professionals are unable to accept that users may be more knowledgeable than experts and medical users cannot discard the values of traditional cannabis culture. Calls for medical cannabis use are thus perceived as a gambit in attempts to have cannabis legalised. We argue that, despite having had little effect on health authorities, the medical cannabis movement may be having the unintended effect of medicalising cannabis use and using it as a cure for everyday problems., (© 2012 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2012 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Background: Over the past 15-20 years, domestic cultivation of cannabis has been established in a number of European countries. New techniques have made such cultivation easier; however, the bulk of growers remain small-scale. In this study, we explore the factors that prevent small-scale growers from increasing their production., Methods: The study is based on 1 year of ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews conducted with 45 Norwegian cannabis growers, 10 of whom were growing on a large-scale and 35 on a small-scale., Results: The study identifies five mechanisms that prevent small-scale indoor growers from going large-scale. First, large-scale operations involve a number of people, large sums of money, a high work-load and a high risk of detection, and thus demand a higher level of organizational skills than for small growing operations. Second, financial assets are needed to start a large 'grow-site'. Housing rent, electricity, equipment and nutrients are expensive. Third, to be able to sell large quantities of cannabis, growers need access to an illegal distribution network and knowledge of how to act according to black market norms and structures. Fourth, large-scale operations require advanced horticultural skills to maximize yield and quality, which demands greater skills and knowledge than does small-scale cultivation. Fifth, small-scale growers are often embedded in the 'cannabis culture', which emphasizes anti-commercialism, anti-violence and ecological and community values. Hence, starting up large-scale production will imply having to renegotiate or abandon these values., Conclusion: Going from small- to large-scale cannabis production is a demanding task-ideologically, technically, economically and personally. The many obstacles that small-scale growers face and the lack of interest and motivation for going large-scale suggest that the risk of a 'slippery slope' from small-scale to large-scale growing is limited. Possible political implications of the findings are discussed., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The paper conceptualizes two contradictory discourses, both used by ethnic minority drug dealers in a street drug market in Oslo, Norway. Oppression discourse includes personal narratives of unemployment, racism and psycho-social problems, often combined with stories about the government and city council being unwilling to help. Drug dealers use the discourse to justify drug dealing and violence, both for themselves and in meetings with welfare organizations. Gangster discourse, on the other hand, includes a series of personal narratives emphasizing how hard, smart, and sexually alluring the young men are. Drug dealers use this discourse to gain self-respect and respect from others, and it dominates interactions on the street. An important argument in this paper is that the discursive practice of criminals inspires theoretical perspectives on criminal practice. Oppression and gangster discourses have inspired, respectively, neutralization and subculture theory. When the same people use both discourses, however, the picture becomes more complicated. The 'bilingual' discursive practice of the street drug dealers reflects the ambivalent role of the researcher, and a Scandinavian institutional and social context where street drug dealers have extensive contact with a welfare state apparatus. The paper still suggests that similar interdiscursivity may have been sacrificed in previous research to produce more coherent theoretical frameworks.

During the summer of 2004 the police closed Plata, an open drug scene in the midst of Oslo. The most important argument for the closure was that the drug scene made it easier for curious, city-dwelling adolescents to start using drugs. This research sought to assess this assumption. Ethnographic research methods including twenty 2-hr field observations and qualitative semi-structures interviews were employed. Interviews were conducted with 30 adolescents in the centre of Oslo, as well as with 10 former drug users, three police officers and three field workers. We were also given access to police statistics and authorised to do our own analysis of the material. The most important result was that adolescents seemed rather to avoid than to be attracted to this open drug scene in Oslo. Based on the presentation of qualitative data we suggest that this was due to the social definition of the drug scene. Because they experienced a great social distance between themselves and the regulars at the open drug scene, adolescents seemed to avoid Plata. Moreover, the scene was symbolically associated with heroin and injection as the route of administration, which had low prestige among the adolescents. Despite these findings, adolescents' recruitment to drug use was the key issue in the political debate following the closure. We point to the shared rhetorical interest among important institutional actors in framing the issue in this way. The argument was also embedded in widely shared public representations of adolescents and drug users as passive and irrational.