A Study Of The New Drug Use Behavior From The Perspective Of Discourse Construction

As the globalization of drug problem, China was involved in international drug control. The drug situation was very grim.Anti-drug law of China was enacted in 2007. In the past, it defined the role of drug addicts with an emphasis on the identity of illegal drug users. Now it sees the illegal drug users not only as offenders, but also as patients and citizens. This was in line with international drug policy orientation based on law and disease. However, international practice pattern of the law and public health model had implemented for several decades, the effectiveness of drug treatment was very limited, and the number of drug addicts remained high. Therefore, when China had promulgated and implemented new drug policy in line with the international drug control orientation in the early stage, it was necessary to explore the problems of international governance policies. This study attempted to systematically card theories supporting the governance policies of these drugs,and the access to compulsory drug treatment centers in Shanghai. At the drug treatment centers also field surveys were conducted. It was hoped that, based on the existing theoretical explanations, and drug development status of China, we would seek to find more effective interpretation path of drug use,and provide decision-making and publicity of drugs with targeted theory and factual basis.Research on the drug problems in western societies had a long history. There was a series of systematic and sophisticated interpretation models of drug abuse,from the original theory of the social structure, focusing on environmental factors, to the social interaction theory concerning about group interaction, and the actors theory,emerging in recent years. The study of drug problems went through a paradigm transformation,from physical theory to construct theory, from structure to action. On the one hand, this was related to paradigm shift of the social science research. On the other hand, the study also reflected the depth development of the drug problem. Scholars were no longer just concerned about the macro-environment and human interaction reasons,but stood also in the position of the subject actors, studying on their own behavior, and being concerned about the behavioral significance. This study attempted to use new drug use groups as the research object,adopt the action theory as the study orientation,and apply discourses itself as the research topic. It analysed drug users'discourse expression under the guidance of the government drug discourse. Through discourse analysis,this study examined the discourses of both the drug users and the government,as well as the relationship between the two kinds of discourses,and illustrated how the drug problem was being constructed by the process of their interaction.Research showed that:First,through the discourse of both the government and the drug users,the study showed different identity construction of drug users. The identity constructed by the government did not distinction between different drug types. Around triple images of the addicts,victims and victimizers,the government constructed a negative stigma,label affixed to drug users. The construction of new drug users was not a unity. But it included the negative and positive impression in the course due to distinction between drug types. The new drug users shaped two completely different and even contradictory identities consisting of traditional drugs and new drugs consumption. They took the traditional drug use as drug abuse behavior defined by the government, but defined the new drug use as a normal entertainment behavior.Second,the discourses between the government and the drug users were not diametrically opposing position. They reflected the dynamic relationship between both consistency and conflict. The discourse of drug users had never been separated from the government discourse system, which occupied authority positions.But there was an expansion and adjustment on its basis. The new drug users made a clear distinction between types of drug. They agreed that, traditional drugs were the drugs regulated by the government,and defined the new drug use behavior as a normal behavior. When the new drugs didn't enter the field of the government regulation,the new drug users and the government made the same behavior position, where only the traditional types of drugs were seen as problematic drugs. With the increasing development of new drugs,the government's drug control was in crisis. It began to expand the scope of drug treatment. New drugs were carried out into the harsh treatment. Although the new drug users'interpretation of the normal behavior was invalid. This interpretation was not totally ineffective. It was still strong among the new drug users. They adjusted their behavior according to the new drug policy changes. With the increased illegal risk of drug use,the new drug users didn't change their discourse , but modified their behavior.It proved that the drug discourse relationship between drug users and the government was not static, but a dynamic process of change. It continued to be altered and consulted.Third, the drug use behavior was identified as a constructed reality. Based on addiction and harm as a standard, the discourse system of the government had remained stable for the past three decades. But some transformation has taken place behind the discourse system,from contradictions between ourselves and the enemy to domestic social security problems. For the maintenance of social stability and the integration of social order, the government expanded the scope of drugs and adjusted their drug policy. Although the drug discourse system was difficult to cover the characteristics of all the new drug types, the government still followed the pattern of opiate drugs to engage in drug promotion and governance. With an increasingly grim situation of new drugs consumption, the new drug regulations of the government went through a gradual process. The attitude of new drug-taking behavior changed gradually from a more lenient to the tough stand. Under the guidance of the government discourse system, the drug users constructed their own drug discourse from their own experience. The drug users expanded the drug discourse of the government,connected the normal logic and the sense of using control, linked the sense of the spirit of joy and entertainment logic,and defined the new drug use behavior as a normal entertainment acts. Clearly, using the same drug discourse system of the government, the government and drug uses made different reality orientations. The drug users identified the new drug use as a normalization of behavior. The government identified it as a problematic behavior.It noted that the reality of drug use had always been the fact of construction, rather than the facts of reality. Different subjects had different perceptions of drug use from different standpoints, but the definition of drug use also showed different realities in the different historical periods.