Women drug users in Cumbria
Abstract
Cumbria can be termed as a relatively remote area, although some of the behaviour exhibited there like drug abuse is consistent with urban areas; Jeniffer Payne embarks on a journey to find out the rate of drug abuse by women in North Cumbria. She uses thirty women drawn from different care centres and interviews them to find out the information she needs. While the study gives insight into some factors that affect women and lead them to substance abuse, there is need for more research where mixed research methods are used and a larger and more diverse sample size is acquired to give better insight into the trends of the women and drug use.
The paper by Jeniffer Payne focuses on the women who use drugs in North Cumbria and what factors influence their initiation into using heroin in a setting that is not urban. She conducted research in the area and according to her findings which she realized through interview accounts, the women in the area are affected by factors of curiosity and trust which are compounded by complexities in their personal lives. In this paper, Payne’s research will be critiqued in a bid to establish whether there is validity in her findings.
Payne used the judgemental sampling method for the study; the women interviewed were recruited from treatment and social care organisations. The sampling method was effective for her hypothesis as the sample was consistent with the traits that they were looking for. Thirty women in total were identified; their ages were between 17 and 42 and hailed from different backgrounds and circumstances. Most of them had engaged in drug use from an early age and while some had used some different types of drugs, heroine was the most common (Payne, 2007).
The literature that Payne used in the paper is quite wide and supports for example her judgmental sampling techniques where certain traits in people could be a factor that leads them to drug use. The literature though is in some cases wide and general and does not indicate that the women are engaging in substance abuse more than their male counterparts. In critique, there has been evidence to show that women who face immense problems like dysfunctional families, sexual abuse and emotional abuse are more susceptible to doing drugs if an opportunity arises or they are introduced when most of the issues of the past had not been resolved (Payne,2007).
The literature reviewed is consistent with the type of women she was using for her research; it largely touches on problems that lead or contribute to drug use as opposed to drug users who simply use drugs for the sake of it. The review however provided basis critique for her findings and it validates what her findings were; her integration of literature with the women’s account also gives credibility to some of the circumstances that the women were in (Cave, et al, 2010).
The author chose to use qualitative methods to obtain information. The methods were essential to the author because they would help her explore the experiences that the women had gone through and enable her pinpoint other drug users and how they underwent initiation. Her research was carried out over a period of two years whereby semi structured interviews were conducted with the help of prepared topic guides (Payne, 2007).
The use of qualitative research was useful to the research because for example, for the women to reveal some of the information they did, is indicative that the interviewer created some level of trust with the women and the hour long interviews could be an indicator of that. The information provided through the interviews was elaborate and the interviewees were able to express themselves in an unrestricted manner (Anderson, 2010).
While the method may have given insight into some of the aspects that lead to drug use, the use of qualitative methods exclusively could have prevented the actualisation of the actual image on the ground. The research was very subjective and this could contribute to problems when it comes to data analysis; researcher bias could have played a role in the outcome of the research process. The use of interviews could have caused some of the interviewees to lie or say things that they felt would be appropriate; people usually behave differently when under scrutiny (Anderson, 2010).
The areas that were covered included drug choice, how drug was administered, what influences existed, how aware they were of harm reduction, engagement in behaviour that was risky and what support networks existed as well as the future goals. The women told their stories and described instances where they engaged in drug use within social settings and suggested reasons why they engaged in drug abuse. They recorded the interviews which lasted about an hour and the interviewee had consented to the interview (Payne, 2007).
Heroin is a drug that has been a persistent phenomenon in many areas of the UK since the mid-1980s. The early outbreaks involved the minority groups, often young people aged between 18 and 25 who were largely unemployed and lived in problematic urban areas. For some time, heroin use declined but by the year 1996, the drug made a comeback and the demographics of the users was also wider, with areas even remote being affected as the supply of heroin has consistently been abundant (Parker, Bury & Egginton, 1998).
The author could therefore use more evidence to support her findings as the use of women who were already in treatment is a factor that limits the study.Variety of the interviewees and maybe a larger number may have given a clearer picture of the drug use prevalent in women. Therapy could have changed the women’s perspectives. The author could also have influenced recounting painful stories of their past and their life circumstances (Plant, et al, 2011).
The study does raise an important issue and gives insight into the women who abuse drugs; we learn more about the causes, behaviour, acquisition, circumstances and what they go through once they use the drug (Plant, etal, 2011). The correlation between difficult life circumstances and bad choices in terms of partner choices, life aspirations and drug use is very clear and although the study is limited in some ways, it supports plenty of literature and studies conducted on drug use as a behaviour that is reactionary to underlying issues (Addaction, 2012).
The public is aware of drug use in Cumbria because surveys have been carried out on substance abuse and the results have indicated a steady rise of drug use. Cumbria is relatively remote and even with this being the case; many are still exposed to drug experimentation at an early age. The social environment in Cumbria is one where underage drinking occurs and this shows an environment where risk-taking is acceptable and as such exposure to drugs early is not very surprising (Allerdale District, 2011).
In conclusion, the study sets a platform from which more research on the subject is needed. Mixed methods, larger samples and diverse sampling that brings a more diverse sample needs to be used. It is clear that there is a problem in Cumbria and thirty women is a large number especially because those are people who have already sought help, one can safely assume that there are many more that are using drugs and their stories may be somewhat different and plainly truthful of what their circumstances are at present.
References
Allerdale District (2011).Cumbria safety strategic assessment. Community Safety Strategic
Assessment Paper 5.
Addaction (2012).Breaking the cycle, retrieved from http://www.addaction.org.uk/page.asp?
section=183§ionTitle=Breaking+the+Cycle
Anderson, C (2010).Presenting and evaluating qualitative research.Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2987281/
Cave, J., Hunt, P., Ismail, S., Levitt, R., Liccardo, P., Rabinovich, L., Rubin, J., Weed, K.,
Kilmer, B (2010). Tackling problem drug use, Rand Corporation, Santa Monica.
Parker, H., Bury, C&Egginton, R(1998). New heroin outbreaks amongst young people in
England and Wales, Crime Detection and Prevention. Series paper 92.
Payne, J (2007). Women drug users in North Cumbria: what influences initiation into heroin
in this urban setting?Sociology of health&wellness.Vol.29.No 3.
Plant, M., Robertson, R& Miller, P (2011). Drug nation: patterns, problems, panics &
Policies, Oxford University press Inc., New York.
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