Medicinal Cannabis Users Downplaying and Shifting Stigma: Articulations of the 'Natural', of What Is/Is Not a 'Drug' and Oppositions with 'Chemical' Substances. (September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Morris, Craig
• Is Part Of: Sociological research online. Volume 25:Number 3(2020)
• Page Start: 350
• Page End: 368
• Publication Date: 2020-09
• Subjects: Bourdieu -- deviance -- discourse -- drugs -- medicinal cannabis -- natural -- normalisation -- stigma; Sociology -- Periodicals; Sociology -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Sociology -- Research -- Periodicals; 301
• DOI: 10.1177/1360780419870814
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1360-7804

Abstract

While sympathy exists among the public for chronically ill and/or disabled people who use cannabis medicinally, cannabis remains a prohibited substance in the UK. How do medicinal cannabis users negotiate this potential stigma when talking about their use of this substance? I reflect on the spoken discourses of 10 medicinal cannabis users (from a sample of 32), obtained by way of qualitative interviews, adopting a critical discourse analysis approach to the data. Specifically, I focus on their articulations around three related themes: cannabis as a 'natural' substance, discursive oppositions between cannabis and other substances, and articulations about what is/is not a 'drug'. I examine how participants articulated these themes in ways that attempted to negotiate the potential for stigma that talking about their cannabis use involved. I found they used rhetorical strategies that downplay their own deviance, attempt to shift the application of stigma to users of other substances, or both. I argue that the more powerful the discursive resources that are articulated, the less rhetorical work an individual has to do to negotiate positive moral standing in an encounter. I also consider to what degree these articulations involved constructions emphasising individual self-control. I argue participants emphasise their individual self-control by asserting that cannabis is a 'natural' substance (connoting less inherent risk).