Rebecca Askew
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 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)
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)
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Recent publications by Rebecca Askew
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
Papers by Rebecca Askew
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