Towards a theory of drug use contexts: Space, embodiment and practice

Critical discussions of the problem of context are surprisingly rare in drug policy debates. Despite wide acceptance of the importance of social contexts in shaping illicit drug use and related risks and harms, few accounts exist of the nature and organisation of these contexts, their defining features and constituent properties. This oversight confounds efforts to identify the specific means by which contexts actually shape illicit drug use and the experience of drug related harms. This article addresses this omission in setting out a theory of drug use contexts grounded in the analysis of space, embodiment and practice. After reviewing recent theoretical accounts of space, embodiment and practice, the article outlines a set of methodological principles for the identification and analysis of local drug use contexts. I also consider how this analysis might inform the design of new, context specific, drug prevention and harm reduction initiatives.