Rebecca Askew
Manchester Metropolitan University, Sociology, Faculty Member
- Rebecca Askew is Senior Lecturer in Criminology with a broad interest in substance consumption, drug markets and drug policy. She was awarded a PhD at The University of Manchester in 2013, entitled, Negotiating the criminality and deviance associated with illicit substance use: A discourse analys... moreRebecca Askew is Senior Lecturer in Criminology with a broad interest in substance consumption, drug markets and drug policy. She was awarded a PhD at The University of Manchester in 2013, entitled, Negotiating the criminality and deviance associated with illicit substance use: A discourse analysis with adult recreational drug takers. https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:215698
Research funding
Rebecca was PI on a British Academy small grant 2015-2017 which explored the varied functions of drug use. This includes: physical pain and mental illness; creativity and problem-solving; spirituality and self-discovery and productivity and focus. The project challenged the recreational and problematic paradigm in the conceptualisation of substance use (£7k).
Currently, Rebecca is a PI for a ESRC New Investigators Grant (2018-2021) called ‘Drug Policy Voices’. This is a three-year project which integrates the values and experiences of people who use illegal substances into debates about drug policy reform (£300k).
Methods
Rebecca uses mixed methods, but has expertise in narrative interviewing and the application of discourse analysis. Rebecca also has experience of managing and undertaking research evaluations for statutory and non-statutory organisations in the field of criminal justice.
Research specialisms
Drug Policy and reform
Perspectives of people with experience
The pleasures, positives and functions of illicit substance use
Narrative interviewing and discourse analysis
Other scholarly activity
Secretary and Treasurer for the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP).
Editor for International Journal of Drug Policy (IF: 4.244)
External Examiner for the University of Worcester (Criminology)edit
AbstractBackground Recent statistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales report a slight increase in past year drug use for the over thirty-age range ( Home Office, 2014 ). This paper explores how adult ‘recreational’ drug takers... more
AbstractBackground
Recent statistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales report a slight increase in past year drug use for the over thirty-age range ( Home Office, 2014 ). This paper explores how adult ‘recreational’ drug takers account for their illicit consumption alongside otherwise conforming lives.
Methods
Twenty-six in-depth interviews were conducted with individuals between the ages of 30 and 59. Each participant had taken drugs in the past year, their main source of income was not a result of criminal activity and they were not currently receiving drug treatment. Discursive Psychology was used to analyse how the participants describe, reason and justify their use.
Results
The analysis resulted in the development of three discursive frameworks that demonstrate the different ways in which illicit drug use can be legitimised. The ‘drug cultures’ framework achieves this through highlighting the accommodation of drugs within social networks. The ‘planned celebration’ framework outlines the occasional frequency of drug use to legitimise consumption. The ‘situational opportunity’ framework positions the wide access and availability of drugs as the influence of their behaviour.
Conclusion
If drug takers can articulate their ability to control their use and maintain functionality within their lives, then both drug taker and drug use may be legitimated. In order to better understand the conceptualisation of drug use and the acceptable boundaries of behaviour, this research has demonstrated that it is more appropriate to conceptualise drug use on a spectrum that runs from control through to dysfunction, rather than either recreational or problematic
Recent statistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales report a slight increase in past year drug use for the over thirty-age range ( Home Office, 2014 ). This paper explores how adult ‘recreational’ drug takers account for their illicit consumption alongside otherwise conforming lives.
Methods
Twenty-six in-depth interviews were conducted with individuals between the ages of 30 and 59. Each participant had taken drugs in the past year, their main source of income was not a result of criminal activity and they were not currently receiving drug treatment. Discursive Psychology was used to analyse how the participants describe, reason and justify their use.
Results
The analysis resulted in the development of three discursive frameworks that demonstrate the different ways in which illicit drug use can be legitimised. The ‘drug cultures’ framework achieves this through highlighting the accommodation of drugs within social networks. The ‘planned celebration’ framework outlines the occasional frequency of drug use to legitimise consumption. The ‘situational opportunity’ framework positions the wide access and availability of drugs as the influence of their behaviour.
Conclusion
If drug takers can articulate their ability to control their use and maintain functionality within their lives, then both drug taker and drug use may be legitimated. In order to better understand the conceptualisation of drug use and the acceptable boundaries of behaviour, this research has demonstrated that it is more appropriate to conceptualise drug use on a spectrum that runs from control through to dysfunction, rather than either recreational or problematic
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology and RECREATION
Background: Cryptomarkets represent an important drug market innovation by bringing buyers and sellers of illegal drugs together in a 'hidden' yet public online marketplace. We ask: How do cryptomarket drug sellers and buyers perceive the... more
Background: Cryptomarkets represent an important drug market innovation by bringing buyers and sellers of illegal drugs together in a 'hidden' yet public online marketplace. We ask: How do cryptomarket drug sellers and buyers perceive the risks of detection and arrest, and attempt to limit them? Methods: We analyse selected texts produced by vendors operating on the first major drug cryptomarket, Silk Road (N = 600) alongside data extracted from the marketplace discussion forum that include buyer perspectives. We apply Fader's (2016) framework for understanding how drug dealers operating 'offline' attempt to reduce the risk of detection and arrest: visibility reduction, charge reduction and risk distribution. Results: We characterize drug transactions on cryptomarkets as 'stretched' across time, virtual and physical space, and handlers, changing the location and nature of risks faced by cryptomarket users. The key locations of risk of detection and arrest by law enforcement were found in 'offline' activities of cryptomarket vendors (packaging and delivery drop-offs) and buyers (receiving deliveries). Strategies in response involved either creating or disrupting routine activities in line with a non-offending identity. Use of encrypted communication was seen as 'good practice' but often not employed. 'Drop shipping' allowed some Silk Road vendors to sell illegal drugs without the necessity of handling them. Conclusion: Silk Road participants neither viewed themselves as immune to, nor passively accepting of, the risk of detection and arrest. Rational choice theorists have viewed offending decisions as constrained by limited access to relevant information. Cryptomarkets as 'illicit capital' sharing communities provide expanded and low-cost access to information enabling drug market participants to make more accurate assessments of the risk of apprehension. The abundance of drug market intelligence available to those on both sides of the law may function to speed up innovation in illegal drug markets, as well as necessitate and facilitate the development of law enforcement responses. Crown