Changing Patterns of Drug Use in the Czech Republic during the Post-Communist Era: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The author carried out a reconstruction of the development of the Czech Republic's drug scene on the basis of the results of key research studies that made use of qualitative methods; he also utilized a multilayer timeline according to target groups and socio-historical perspectives. The last decade of the 20th century was a period in which the Czech drug scene underwent a radical transformation, both in problem drug use (see the definition in the editorial) and recreational use of illicit drugs. The original “hard core” groups were usually comprised of individuals who shared close personal relationships. A system of home production and self-supply dominated the market, and this system was not very organized or hierarchical. The entire drug scene opened up in the course of the 1990s and started to “move” and communicate markedly, both internally and externally. A stabilization of prices, purity, and availability of drugs, as well as the relationships and rules of the black market, was characteristic of the second half of the 1990s. The field of recreational use (of cannabis and the so-called “recreational” drugs in particular) went through a different development during this period, when other changes that deepened the commercial nature of the market took place.