Junkie Habitus: On Biopower and Liquid Cuffs

• In Event: 156 - Section on Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco Paper Session. Social and Contextual Dimensions of Substance Abuse

Abstract

Methadone programs have been an important drug treatment and HIV prevention intervention in the U.S. However, program participants have faced multiple problems within these institutions, often triggering attrition and negative perceptions of this intervention. Based on a broader sample of 28 heroin users in New York City, 15 methadone program participants were asked to share their experiences within these programs to better understand these issues. Two main reasons inform program enrollment: utilitarianism and mainstreaming. Individual struggles with methadone’s pharmacology and program regulations are depicted. Continued heroin use despite methadone stems from informants’ utilitarian reasons for enrollment and from the Junkie habitus. First, financial/physical desperation greatly influence program enrollment, revealing the involuntary aspects of enrollment. Second, the Junkie habitus challenges biopower (methadone’s pharmacology) because structurally and subjectively, their lives haven’t changed qualitatively with program enrollment. Recommendations for future research are offered.

Keywords: habitus, biopower, Junkie, heroin, methadone, methadone programs

Author

• Camila Gelpi-Acosta, National Development and Research Institutes