On the margins with heroin use: generational perspectives

Abstract

Hong Kong has a long history with heroin consumption, with its emergence directly tied to the international pressures on the British to criminalize its’ colonial benefits with opium. For much of the latter half of the 20th century, heroin dominated Hong Kong’s local drug market, and heroin users, typically lower working class males, though publicly tolerated, came to be highly stigmatized and marginalized in the community. By the end of the century, recreational use of psychotropic drugs emerged, following similar patterns globally with ecstasy and the dance party setting attracting young people from a variety of social classes. Yet within a year, ketamine took center stage, becoming the most popular drug among young persons and used in settings beyond the dance scene. At the same time, heroin use among young persons declined significantly. The aim of this paper is to examine the experiences of initiating into heroin use and experiences of marginality of three generations of heroin users, including a group of young, middle aged, and elderly users. The study draws from 65 indepth interviews with users of different ages to address the question as to how are their experiences differ and their position in this era of change and transition in the local drug market and in the community?