911勛圖

Congratulations to Naomi Zakimi on successfully defending her PhD thesis, ���When drug policy comes alive: A qualitative study of drug decriminalization and social position in British Columbia���. Her research looks at how people who use drugs, and who are stably housed and employed, understood, interpreted, and constructed themselves, others who use drugs, and policy during the first year of British Columbia���s decriminalization exemption.

Abstract

Amidst an ongoing public health emergency associated to the unregulated drug supply which has caused over 17,000 deaths since 2016, Health Canada granted the British Columbia (B.C.) an exemption to decriminalize small amounts of most illicit drugs between January 2023 and 2026. However, drug policies are not simply delivered from the government to the population; rather, they can shape how people who use drugs interpret, experience, and talk about themselves, drugs, and policy. Research about drug policy generally focuses on people who use drugs broadly or categorizes people based on ���recreational��� vs. ���dependent/uncontrolled��� use. In this study, I focused on the role of social position, questioning and evidencing taken-for-granted assumptions about middle-class users who were also positioned as a key demographic suffering from the drug toxicity crisis. The current dissertation examined how people who use drugs who are socioeconomically stable (stably housed and employed) interpret and construct themselves, people who use drugs, drugs, and policy during the first year (2023) of B.C.���s decriminalization exemption. Specifically, I examined how people who use drugs in socioeconomically stable positions interpreted decriminalization���s ���messages���; what they learned about themselves and others through their experiences and perspectives on police officers; and how construction workers who use drugs constituted themselves, people who use drugs, and decriminalization at the intersection of workplace and drug policies and norms. Findings show that drug policy, in practice, communicated multiple messages to participants about themselves and others, which were not passively received but shaped and made available specific subject positions to people who use drugs, often creating divisions among them. These ���messages��� were communicated both in how the policy was understood and interpreted, and how it was translated into practice in everyday life, such as through police officers��� actions and in the complex interactions with existing work and social norms and policies. Therefore, policies must account for the complexity of and the multiple realities and positions occupied by people who use drugs, especially as B.C. transitions away from the drug decriminalization pilot in 2026, which may reinforce the existing inequities evidenced in this dissertation.

We are sure Naomi has a bright career ahead and wish her all the best in this next chapter.