The symbolism of substance misuse is a familiar theme. However, relatively little
attention has been paid specifically to the nature of the symbolic
frameworks through which substance misuse is represented and even less attention to
the part played by the news media in the reproduction of these symbolic frameworks.
This article takes volatile substance abuse (VSA) and ecstasy as examples through
which to explore the ways in which news production processes, together with the
symbolic and inferential frameworks employed by journalists, intersect with
structures of disadvantage, to reproduce particular news discourses or ways of
understanding substance misuse. It suggests that VSA receives very little attention
in the United Kingdom national press in comparison to
‘spectacular’, or ‘glamorous’ drugs such as
ecstasy, despite the evidence available that VSA represents a problem of, at least,
equivalent magnitude, if recorded associated annual deaths are taken as the measures
of ‘seriousness’. It is suggested that significantly different
symbolic frameworks are deployed in national newspapers to represent the
‘problems’ associated with VSA and ecstasy, and that these
differences are explicable in terms of the cultural assumptions and inferential
frameworks underpinning news production, together with news source activity, and the
marketing strategies of newspapers in an era of intensified news commodification.
Ashton, C.H.
(1990)
‘Solvent Abuse: Little Progress After 20 Years’
, British Medical Journal300:
135-136
.
2.
Becker, H.
(1963) The Outsiders.
New York: Free Press
.
3.
Bland, J.M.
and
J. Taylor
(1998)
‘Deaths Due to Volatile Substance Misuse Are Greatly Underestimated’
, British Medical Journal316:
312
.
4.
Boyd, S.
(2002)
‘Media Constructions of Illegal Drugs, Users and Sellers: A
Closer Look at Traffic’
, The International Journal of Drugs Policy13:
397-407
.
5.
Cohen, S.
(1977)
‘Inhalant Misuse: An Overview of the Problem’
, National Institute of Drug Abuse Research Monograph, Series15:
2-11
.
6.
Critcher, C.
(2003) Moral Panics and the Media.
Buckingham: Open University Press
.
7.
Daily Mail (1993a)
‘The Evil and the Innocent’
, 25 November, p.
36
.
8.
Daily Mail (1993b)
‘Teenage Thief Stabbed Teacher “For Trying to Be a Hero”’
, 29 October, p.
7
.
9.
Daily Mail (1993c)
‘Glue Sniff Wreckers Stormed by Riot Squad’
, 11 May, p.
5
.
10.
Daily Mail (2002)
‘The Girl Who Was Killed by Ecstasy’
, 16 July, p.
7
.
11.
Daily Mirror (1996)
‘Solvents Are Secret Killer - Mirror Health: Dangers of Solvent Abuse’
, 14 October.
12.
Daily Mirror (2002a)
‘Fergie and the Gluesniffers: Duchess Meets Russia’s
Sad Street Kids’
, 12 July, p.
25
.
13.
Daily Mirror (2002b)
‘Jade, 10, Youngest Victim of Ecstasy’
, 16 July, p.
5
.
14.
Daily Mirror (2002c)
‘On the E Trail: How the Killer Drug Gets to the UK’
, 30 July, p.
17
15.
Douglas, M.
(1966) Purity and Danger.
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
.
16.
Drugscope
(2002) ‘Drugscope UK Drug Report
2001’. Available at http://www.drugscope.org.uk/druginfor/drugsearch/ds_report_results/
17.
Field-Smith, M.E.
,
Butland, B.K.
,
Ramsey, J.D.
and
Anderson, H.R.
(2004): Trends in Death Associated with Abuse of Volatile
Substances 1971-2002 Report 17,
London: St George’s Hospital Medical School
.
18.
Field-Smith, M.E.
,
J.M. Bland
,
J.C. Taylor
,
J.D. Ramsey
and
H.R. Anderson
(2002): Trends in Death Associated with Abuse of Volatile
Substances 1971-2000 Report 15.
London: St George’s Hospital Medical School
.
19.
Giulianotti, R.
(1997)
‘Drugs and the Media in the Era of Postmodernity: An
Archaeological Analysis’
, Media Culture Society19(3):
413-439
.
20.
Guardian (1993)
‘Agony’
, 7 September, p.
3
.
21.
Guardian (1996)
‘Drugs: A Thinker’s Guide’
, 23 April, p.
11
.
22.
Guardian (2002)
‘Girl, 10, Believed to Be the Youngest Victim of Ecstasy’
, 6 July, p.
2
.
23.
Goulden, C.
and
A. Sondhi
(2001) ‘At the Margins: Drug Use by Vulnerable
Young People in the 1998/99 Youth Lifestyles Survey’,
Home Office Research Study 228.
London: Home Office Research Development and
Statistics Directorate
.
24.
Grinspoon, L.
(1971) Marijuana Reconsidered.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
.
25.
Hammersley, R.
,
F. Khan
and
J. Ditton
(2002) Ecstasy and the Rise of the Chemical Generation.
London: Routledge
.
26.
Hugill, B.
(1993)
‘Forget God and Families: Legalise Drugs Now’
, Observer, 30 May, p.
65
.
27.
Humphries, D.
(1999) Crack Mothers, Pregnancy, Drugs and the Media.
Columbus, OH: Ohio State University
.
28.
Independent (1993a)
‘Boy Died in Petrol Sniffing Prank’
, 3 March, p.
7
.
29.
Independent (1993b)
‘Mother Can’t Believe that
“Devious” Child Killed’
, 25 November, p.
3
.
30.
Independent (1993c)
‘How Rat Boy Made His Name’
, 9 October, p.
14
.
31.
Independent (1993d)
‘Boy Died in Petrol Sniffing Prank’
, 3 March, p.
7
.
Independent (1993g)
‘Saturday Night: Last of the Summer Raves’
, 28 August.
34.
Independent (1993h)
‘Ecstasy Gang Supergrass Escapes 20 Year Sentence’
, 21 December, p.
5
.
35.
Independent (1996)
‘Hi-tech Security Coming to Schools’
, 9 September, p.
5
.
36.
Jackson, G.W.L.
and
S.K. Cole
(2000) Drug Related Deaths in Scotland.
Edinburgh: General Register Office Scotland
.
37.
Jagger, E.A.
(1996)
‘The Policing of Glue-sniffing’
, British Journal of Criminology36(2):
237-254
.
38.
Jenkins, P.
(1999) Synthetic Panics: The Symbolic Politics of Designer
Drugs.
New York: New York University Press
.
39.
Johns, A.
(1991)
‘Volatile Substance Abuse and 963 Deaths’
, British Journal of Addiction86:
1053-1056
.
40.
Leeming, D.
,
M. Hanley
and
S. Lyttle
(2002)
‘Young People’s Images of Cigarettes, Alcohol and Drugs’
, Drugs: Education Prevention and Policy9(2):
169-185
.
41.
Lindesmith, A.R.
(1968)
‘A Sociological Theory of Addiction’
, American Journal of Sociology43:
593-613
.
42.
McRobbie, A.
and
S. Thornton
(1995)
‘Rethinking “Moral Panics” for Multi-mediated
Social Worlds’
, British Journal of Sociology46(4):
559-574
.
43.
Mail on Sunday (1993)
‘Hell of Mother at Her Wits’ End’
, 2 May, p.
28
.
44.
Manderson, P.
(1995)
‘Metamorphoses: Clashing Symbols in the Social Construction of Drugs’
, Journal of Drug Issues25(4):
799-816
.
45.
Manning, P.
(1999)
‘Categories of Knowledge and Information Flows: Reasons for the
Decline of the British Labour and Industrial Correspondents’ Group’
, Media, Culture & Society21(3):
313-336
.
46.
Manning, P.
(2001) News and News Sources: A Critical Introduction.
London: SAGE Publications
.
47.
Manning, P.
and
S. Stewart
(2001) ‘Hidden Populations and Substance Misuse in
Northamptonshire. A Report for the Northamptonshire Drugs Action
Team’,
Department of Sociology, De Montfort University
, July 2001.
48.
Measham, F.
,
J. Aldridge
and
H. Parker
(2001) Dancing on Drugs: Risk Health and Hedonism in the
British Club Scene.
London: Free Association Books
.
49.
Measham, F.
,
R. Newcombe
and
H. Parker
(1993)
‘The Post-heroin Generation: Youth Culture May Be Outpacing
Today’s Drug Service Establishment’
, Druglink8(3):
16-17
.
50.
Musto, D.F.
(1973) The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic
Control.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
.
51.
Moore, J.
(2002)
‘Drug Takers Today Feel No Shame and No Fear. That’s
Why Jade Died’
, The Sun, 17 July, p.
11
.
52.
The Observer (1999)
‘Real Life: The Chemical Generation’
, 24 January, p.
26
.
53.
Office of National Statistics
(2002)
‘Deaths Related to Drugs Poisoning: England and Wales, 1995-1999’
, Health Statistics Quarterly, Spring:
76-82
.
54.
Office of National Statistics (ONS)
(2004) ‘Drug Poisoning Deaths Lowest Since
1995’. Available at: www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/default.asp
55.
Palmer, J.
(2000) Spinning into Control.
Leicester: Leicester University Press
.
56.
Parker, H.
,
J. Aldridge
and
R. Egginton, R.
(2001) UK Drugs Unlimited: New Research and Policy Lessons on
Illicit Drug Use.
Basingstoke: Palgrave
.
57.
Pearson, G.
(1999)
‘Drugs at the End of the Century’
, British Journal of Criminology39(4):
477-487
.
58.
Philips, M.
(1993)
‘This Is Radford Road in Nottingham’
, Guardian, 27 February, p.
21
.
59.
Ramsey, M.
,
P. Barker
,
C. Goulden
,
C. Sharp
and
A. Sondhi
(2001) ‘Drug Misuse in 2000: Results from the
British Crime Survey’, Home Office Research Study
224.
London: Home Office Research Development and
Statistics Directorate
.
60.
Ramsey, M.
,
S. Partridge
and
B. Byron
(1999) ‘Drug Misuse Declared in 1998: Key
Results from the British Crime Survey’, Home Office
Research Findings93.
London: Home Office Research Development and
Statistics Directorate
.
Reeves, J.L.
and
R. Campbell
(1994) Cracked Coverage: Television News, the Anti-cocaine
Crusade and the Regan Legacy.
London: Duke University
.
63.
Rhodes, T.
(1997)
‘Risk Theory in Epidemic Times: Sex, Drugs and the Organisation
of Risk Behaviour’
, Sociology of Health and Illness19(2):
208-227
.
64.
Riley, S.
and
E. Hayward
(2004)
‘Patterns, Trends and Meanings of Drug use by Dance-drug Users in
Edinburgh, Scotland’
, Drugs, Education, Prevention and Policy11(3):
243-262
.
65.
Saunders, N.
(1998)
‘How the Media Report Ecstasy’
, Journal of Substance Misuse3:
98-100
.
66.
Schlesinger, P.
and
H. Tumber
(1994) Reporting Crime: The Media Politics of Criminal
Justice.
Oxford: Clarendon
.
67.
Schudson, M.
(1991) ‘The Sociology of News
Production’, in
J. Curran
and
M. Gurevitch
(eds) Mass Media and Society, pp. 141-159.
London: Arnold
.
68.
Schudson, M.
(2000) ‘The Sociology of News Production
Revisited (Again)’, in
J. Curran
and
M. Gurevitch
(eds) Mass Media and Society (third edn), pp.
715-200.
London: Arnold
.
69.
Scruton, R.
(1999)
‘The Roger Scruton Column’
, The Times, 23 September.
70.
Stroud Citizen (1999)
‘Why I Shopped My Own Son’
, 12 January.
71.
The Sun (1999)
‘Dead After Taking Just One Tablet of Ecstasy’
, 19 May, p.
15
.
72.
The Sun (2001)
‘A-level Girl, 19 Killed Four in Ecstasy Smash’
, 16 June, p.
7
.
73.
The Sun (2002)
‘Weep for Her, Weep for Our Country’
, 16 July.
74.
Sunday Express (1999)
‘Camilla Son Was Our Drug Buyer’
, 23 May.
75.
Sunday Times (1993a)
‘Doctors Call for a Ban on Raves’
, 5 December.
76.
Sunday Times (1993b)
‘Rave New World’
, 21 November.
77.
Sunday Times (1993c)
‘Where Is Elicit Ness When We Need Him?’
, 31 October.
78.
Sunday Times (1993d)
‘Morgan Weekend Trippers’
, 17 October.
79.
The Times (1993a)
‘Tripping the Night Away’
, 15 November.
80.
The Times (1993b)
‘Policeman Arrested Over Murders of Rio Street Children Are Freed’
, 26 July.
81.
The Times (1993c)
‘My Son Is Devious but He Is Not a Killer’
, 25 November.
82.
The Times (1993d)
‘Armed Gangs Recruit Boys on Mountain Bikes for Deliveries’
, 15 November.
83.
Wykes, M.
(2001) News Crime and Culture.
London: Pluto Press
.
84.
Yates, R.
(2002)
‘A Brief History of British Drugs Policy 1950-2001’
, Drugs: Education Prevention and Policy9(2):
113-124
.
