Culture of Recovery as an Alternative for Drug Culture
- IQRR @ VTC
- 18 minutes ago
- 5 min read
By: Ghada Nusair, PharmD, Ph.D.
You know what your belonging “culture” is like; you can define your community or society, and you can describe its distinguishable worldview, beliefs, and norms. What is challenging, however, is identifying your “drug culture.” Interpreting your drug culture is a helpful technique in the recovery process, but you cannot interpret something if you are not aware of it. Therefore, as an individual actively involved in substance use recovery, it is vitally important to learn about and recognize the existence of “drug cultures.”
Cultures based on race, ethnic identity, language, and national origin are major forces that shape an individual’s life. In addition, other types of subcultures are also organized around shared beliefs and values; the members of those cultural groups have their own core organizing theme with all the elements ascribed to a culture. These elements include but are not limited to customs, rituals, behaviors, and relationships. Drug cultures are examples of these subcultures. Members of a drug culture have their ways of life that are formed around substance use. They can share similar attitudes, ways of communication or language, the pattern of use (e.g., marijuana’s use may encourage the sharing of substances), modes of ingestion (e.g., heroin is more likely to be inhaled by people who use it in the Northeast United States, and injected in the Western United States), dress pattern, and music preferences (e.g., rave music culture is associated with illegal drugs such as ecstasy). These drug cultures can differ based on substance used, geographic area (as in the heroin example above), and social factors (e.g., older drug users tend to be marginalized within today’s illicit drug culture).
Drug cultures may serve as an initiating force for individuals new to substance use; they provide a way to experience the reinforcing effects of the drug. People new to substance use may also learn practical skills related to substance use (e.g., drug preparation, techniques, or procedures to inject drugs, how to maximize the drug’s effects, etc.). Different aspects of drug culture beyond that of the drug itself seem to appeal to adolescents and young individuals. In buying and selling drugs and navigating the difficulties of living as a person who uses drugs, adolescents and young people may seem to find a sense of purpose, admiration, and respect for peers. Feelings of alienation from mainstream culture and the desire to assume an outlaw image may also add to the attraction a drug culture holds among youth. As a person progresses from experimentation to misuse, drug culture serves as a sustaining force where members seek support for their continued use; they can learn how to make money to support their habit, find suppliers, and avoid arrests. The more an individual’s association with a drug culture deepens and the more their basic, emotional, and social needs are met within a drug culture, the harder it will likely be to leave that culture behind and seek recovery.
In a treatment and/or harm reduction setting, drug cultures are likely to have a powerful influence on a client's behaviors related to substance use; neglecting this influence could contribute to a person’s substance use pattern and years of multiple relapses. A drug cultural assessment is a valuable part of prevention, intervention strategies, and outcomes for substance use. To better understand and help clients, providers and counselors should identify which drug culture(s) a client has been involved with and their level of involvement. For example, learning about clients’ daily and weekend routines and rituals as well as their feelings, reactions, and expectations of daily activities, is one way to understand a client's level of involvement in a specific drug culture. If clients continue to be closely affiliated with a drug-using life, they are more likely to relapse; therefore, in the recovery process, breaking the ties of clients with drug cultures is essential. Importantly, this type of approach emphasizes how elements of a culture of recovery can replace elements of the drug culture. This step requires providers to look for many alternatives to drug cultures and to identify how clients’ psychological needs can be better satisfied, typically through several ways. These could include strengthening cultural identity where clients’ family members and friends participate in the recovery process, which could positively affect the healing process. Additionally, fostering a peer culture within a program will enable other peers, staff members, and health and social services providers to acclimate new clients to a culture of recovery. Indeed, Certified Peer Recovery Specialists (CPRS) are increasingly being recognized in numerous settings. Training is available at local, state, and national levels. Fostering supportive relationships will also motivate clients to advance in their recovery journeys and set and achieve new goals. Programs also need to challenge consistently and redirect behaviors that reflect any of the drug cultures’ elements like the style of dress, music, and language (e.g., wearing shirts depicting pot leaves, displaying gang-affiliated symbols, gestures, and tattoos). Additionally, it is important to replace activities, things, people, places, and beliefs associated with substance use with something new that is positively associated with a culture of recovery (e.g., replacing a marijuana leaf keychain with an NA keychain).
Recovery requires a well-organized system of support from family, friends, and professionals. Other activities that include the community will also improve integration into a recovery culture. For example, peer-based recovery support services and Recovery Community Centers can provide space for people in recovery to socialize, organize, and develop a recovery culture. Other efforts to educate the community about recovery (e.g., by promoting a recovery month in the community, hosting recovery walks or similar events, or offering outreach to community groups, such as churches or fraternal/benevolent societies) will connect individuals within larger communities and mainstream cultures. Altogether, this will help people in recovery to learn and focus on the future and provide them with opportunities for change, reflection, and personal growth that can give their lives meaning.
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Resources:
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US). Improving Cultural Competence. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2014. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 59.) 6, Drug Cultures and the Culture of Recovery. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK248421/