A Fine Line

Provides a long overdue full-length critical scholarly work on the subject of pharmaceutical opioid abuse

Canvasses historical shifts in Australian drug policy and international literature on non-medical consumption

Addresses the discursive construction of painkiller (ab)use as it is articulated in research and policy accounts

Provides an original empirical investigation that draws on the lived experience of those who engage in non-medical consumption

Autorentext
George (Kev) Dertadian, Ph.D. is a social researcher interested in alcohol and other drugs, the sociology of crime and deviance, and social and cultural theory. Kev has conducted several qualitative projects on the non-medical use of pharmaceuticals at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University and the Kirby Institute for infection and immunity, University of New South Wales, Australia. Kev is currently a Lecturer in Criminology as part of the School of Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales.

Inhalt
Foreword.- Acknowledgements.- Abbreviations.- Drug Glossary.- Preface.- Part One.- 1. Introduction: Understanding Painkiller Use in Contemporary Society.- 2. Drugs through Time: The History of the Regulation of Drug Consumption in Australia.- 3. 'Discovering' Non-Medical (Ab)Use: The Meaning and Measurement of Non-Medical Consumption.- 4. Problematizing Pain: Medical, Social and Commercial Approaches to Pain.- Part Two.- 5. Chilling Out: Recreational and Painkiller Use among Young People.- 6. Work Hard, Play Hard: Cycles of Restrain and Release in Painkiller Use.- 7. Chronic Pain and Dependence: Chronic Conditions, Opiates and Stigma.- 8. Beyond 'Addiction': Dependence, Injecting and Transitions in Opiate Use.- Conclusion.