Photo by Papaioannou Kostas on Unsplash
Our presentation in NSfK’s 63rd research seminar focused on the severe violence experienced by young people who are actively using drugs. The full findings will be published later as a research article.
The data consist of the following: ethnographic observations in spring 2024 in Finnish low-threshold services directed to young people who use drugs (N = 41); interviews with young people that have near-miss experiences of overdoses, suicides and/or severe violence (N = 24); and five individual or group interviews with staff members (N = 17).
To conceptualise the experiences of the interviewed young people, we used Goldstein’s (1985) tripartite conceptual framework on how drug use and illegal drug markets relate to violence. In his theory, he differentiates between psychopharmacological, economic compulsive and systemic models for violence.
The psychopharmacological model for violence means that the use of certain drugs can make some individuals aggressive and more prone to use violence. In our data, young people described general intoxication as a source of violence. While intoxicated, situations could escalate into severe violence from a small misunderstanding. Also, interviewees acknowledged that certain substances, especially synthetic cathinones or alcohol, caused aggressiveness. Some of the interviewees explained they had begun to avoid these substances.
The economic compulsive model refers to violence committed as a result of the compulsive need to finance drug use. This kind of violence was present in robberies occurring on the streets and in private apartments. These robberies targeted money, valuables and drugs. Debts were most often mentioned as a reason for violence. Goldstein situates debt collecting as a part of systemic violence; however, our interviewees often referred to made-up or shady debts that seemed more like a way for the aggressor(s) to finance compulsive drug use.
With the systemic violence model, Goldstein refers to wider cultural and social patterns that are related to violence in some subcultures involved in the distribution and use of drugs. The violence experienced by the interviewed young people had normalised as part of their everyday life. The violence often involved various kinds of weapons such as knives, baseball bats and metal pipes. There were many cultural reasons for violence, such as retaliation against “ratting” and debt collection. Violence was also justified as self-defence and revenge, and it was initiated in place of calling the police. Sustaining a violent image was also viewed as a survival strategy.
In the last years, the Nordic public discourse has placed an emphasis on gang-related violence. However, more focus should be directed to the violence experienced by socially disadvantaged young people who are actively using drugs. The root causes for their violence were often related to the use of illegal drugs and are therefore difficult to solve in the current juridical environment.
References:
Goldstein, P. J. (1985). The Drug/Violence Nexus: A Tripartite Conceptual Framework. Journal of Drug Issues. 15(4): 493-506. DOI: 10.1177/002204268501500406
About the authors:
Teemu Kaskela (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4737-5702) works at the A-Clinic Foundation
Alix Helfer (http://orcid.org/0009-0006-4234-708X) works as a researcher at the Finnish Youth Research Society.
Both researchers are currently working on the Out of Despair research project, which provides solutions to break the pathways leading to violent, suicidal and drug-induced deaths of young people. The Out of Despair project is funded by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland.