Befriending friends
Methodological and ethnographic aspects of a study of a Canberra group of illicit drug users

Phyll Dance

At the beginning of 1989 Stephen Mugford suggested that for part of my work for my Honours thesis in Sociology I collect data in Canberra on recreational Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs) which could also be used for research he was involved with for the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and the Commonwealth AIDS Research Grants Committee (CARG). For the purposes of accessing respondents, ‘recreational IDUs’ were defined as using illicit drugs intravenously, in a non-addictive way. During the process of this research I discovered what can, in the formal sociological sense of the term be called a group, of non-dependent illicit drug users. In the second part of the year I conducted further interviews on networking amongst the group and have succeeded in interviewing thirty six illicit drug users, twenty seven of whom were group members, all of whom were IDUs and seventeen of whom were current IDUs. An unexpected consequence of the research was my involvement in social interactions amongst the group and it is that part of the work which this paper addresses.

Methodological aspects of the research

Although much is known about illicit drug use our knowledge is mainly confined to that group easily accessible for research through drug referral centres, law courts and various other agencies. Since it is most likely to be heavy drug users who manifest legal or health problems these what Becker terms "captive" illicit drug users, are by definition almost certainly always dependent drug users. Quantification of the overall use of illicit drug use in Australia has not been attempted but the AIDS epidemic led to a 1988 random national household survey of 1,500 adults aged between 16 and 60 by the Commonwealth Department of Community Services and Health to attempt to quantify the number of IDUs. This survey found that 2% of respondents had injected illicit drugs during the previous twelve months which has been estimated to be about 90-130,000 Australians of whom 30-50,000 are thought to be dependent. The ratio of non-dependent to dependent is, therefore, somewhere in the region of 2-3:1. It follows from this that most of the knowledge that we have about illicit drug use is from that minority of the population who develop legal or health problems.

Becker correctly believes that not only are such samples unrepresentative but that those in captive populations "...do not talk or act as they might in their native habitats" (1970). This paper broadens the knowledge base by offering qualitative data on non-captive, non-dependent illicit drug users in their native habitats. An end result of getting to know some of the informants better is that I would like to do more than describe the deviant aspect of their lives, I will also present data which will challenge some of the stereotypical ideas about illicit drug users.

When this research project was suggested to me I had no contacts at all respondents was to ask everyone I knew if they knew anyone who was an IDU in the hope of accessing respondents in the only way feasible for such research; that of snowballing (Biernacki & Waldorf 1981). I had asked about fifty of my friends and acquaintances if they knew any IDUs with no leads until I met ‘Roger’ (pseudonyms are used throughout this piece), who, apart from one other contact which provided one respondent, proved to be the only fruitful source of a snowball.

I first met Roger at the beginning of 1989 when he came along to a meeting I attended. He was talkative and his outspoken, yet well informed comments, revealed that he was an independent thinker. Roger had a quaint charm to offset his outspokenness and an obvious air, and this is not just the wisdom of hindsight, of being very unconventional. My overall impression was one of interest and our relationship got off to a good start when I bought him a drink. By the time of our next meeting four weeks later I had reached the stage where, in the hope of establishing contacts, I was telling everyone I knew about my research. It could have just been serendipity, it could have been that I wanted to talk some more to this person who interested me or it could have been that Roger was displaying a characteristic common to his group of friends, that of enjoying conversation and company. Whichever the reason, it was extremely fortuitous that the four people left at the end of that meeting were Roger, my partner, one other person and myself.

We went back to our home to continue our conversation and by the time we’d relaxed over dinner I’d told Roger of my project. After a lot of discussion and after questioning my attitude about the use of, and decriminalisation of, drugs, Roger told me that he was a recreational IDU, enthusiastically insisting that he be the first person I interview. I was interested to hear that Roger had thirty to forty friends who were recreational IDUs and when we met again four weeks later the interview sheets had arrived. I had prepared some flyers and gave Roger about forty. These flyers, which contained details about the legal indemnity provided by the Commonwealth Epidemiological Studies (Confidentiality) Act 1981(which ensures confidentiality for those taking part in Commonwealth epidemiological surveys), as well as information about the $30.00 honorarium provided by the AIC and CARG and a contact number, proved to be a useful way of accessing respondents.

Roger distributed the flyers at a party that he went to later that evening telling his friends that I was both safe and a friend. Within the space of twelve days I’d interviewed ten people from this party and given each of them flyers to distribute. This link with Roger, who has been around the Canberra drug scene for thirteen years, was a crucial factor in encouraging his friends to come and see me. Not only did Roger see me as a friend, we had several interests in common which fortified his trust in me personally. Throughout this paper the word friend is used deliberately for it cropped up frequently during the interviews. Most of the significant others were "friends" and vithin the group about to be described this is a password of trust. As Patrick, my eighth informant, said, ‘Nou can trust your friends."

At the beginning of the research I was somewhat nervous about the prospect of meeting and interviewing illicit drug users, often at night, either at my home or in an otherwise usually empty university building. I have since found out that many respondents were just as nervous as me fearing that I might be a narcotic agent.

What reassured both parties was the knowledge that Roger was a friend and could be trusted. Not only did respondents trust me enough to present for interview, this friendship link led the informants to be honest and in the majority of cases there was no hesitancy when responding to questions. My conjecture that respondents were honest in their replies is not based solely on my belief in the importance of friendship to this group. Since the first part of the research involved data collection for both the AIC and CARG many of the questions were replicated. Careful analysis of the questionnaires revealed only a few cases were there were conflicting data. In addition eight respondents from the group were reinterviewed for the networking research, again there was replication of some questions; in particular those related to drug use histories, again there were only a few cases of conflicting data. The ethnographic aspects of the research have also enabled me to verify much of the data.

Since he had already been to my home the interview with Roger was conducted there. My policy for this and all subsequent interviews was to extend to respondents the same hospitality that I would extend to anyone who was my guest. Depending on the time of day, tea or coffee would be provided, or beer or a glass of wine. If the interview corresponded with a mealtime food would be provided and I always made s sure I had a supply of cigarettes. I would not have been able to establish the rapport I have with the respondents without my appreciation of C Wright Mills’ "The Sociological Imagination" (1959). My methodological approach has also been influenced by Barbara McClintock’s notion that "having a feeling for the organism" is an essential part of research (quoted in Fox-Keller 1983).

I met the next six interviewees in a cafe in Civic and also brought them back home for the interviews. This soon proved to be unsatisfactory; incarcerating my partner in the bedroom one Sunday to maximise confidentiality for one respondent was something both he and I only wanted to do once. Subsequent interviews for this part of the research were conducted in a room at the Australian National University. Illness necessitated me conducting some of the interviews for the second piece of research at home again, but since by this time my partner had met respondents at social events such strict precautions were not necessary (he was not, of course, present during the interviews).

Before all the interviews I would inform respondents that the interviews would last up to three hours, reiterating that there was legal indemnity and reassuring them that information they gave to me was also otherwise confidential. I was alerted to the need to do this early on when, as we were going through the list of "significant others", informants expressed concern that I would tell other interviewees some of the information they were relating to me. I would also inform the people that I would be interviewing that they were in control and if there was, for example, a question that they did not want to answer I had no power, neither had I a wish, to force them into answering.

There was only one respondent, a non-group member, who as a consequence insisted on her rights and refused to answer some questions.

The first few people who contacted me were from Roger’s inner circle, and after being interviewed they reported back to their friends that the interview was "cool", by which they meant not only safe but interesting and enjoyable.

It soon became apparent that I was interviewing people who all knew one another and I became interested in the group as such. I went round to Roger’s home to discuss this with him. Rob and Janine. my second and third informants were there too, and we talked ways of trying to entice more of their friends to come along. Nineteen days after this I had reached my goal of twenty subjects from this snowball. There were eleven interviewees who knew Roger well and were part of his circle of IDU friends. I unsuccessfully tried to encourage more to come and was told that they were either too lazy and couldn’t be "hassled" or they were "paranoid" meaning that the belief that I could be trusted had not percolated through to them and they were afraid of the interview leading to a police " bust".

After I had finished the work for CARG and the AIC and written my thesis based on some of the data (Dance 1990a describes some of the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the AIC research) I decided to return to the group to access as many members as possible extending the research to include those who were not IDUs; eight group members were interviewed for both pieces of research.

The second piece of research looked at the drug taking histories of the group which demonstrated the strong histories of non-dependent poly illicit drug use among the majority of the informants. Only one informant had, in the past, ever been addicted to heroin and at the time of interview one respondent was using amphetamines daily. At the time of interview respondents were using between 6 and 18 drugs with a mean of 9.1 drugs used currently, which in many cases; including heroin, was only a few times a year. Dance & Mugford (1991) gives a fuller description of the drug use histories discovered in the group during both pieces of the 1989 research. Data on friendship, needle use and sexual networks were also collected and analysis of these showed that many group members had strong friendship ties going back over several years (Dance & Mugford 1991). These data also show that of the twenty two group members interviewed for this piece of research there were six whose needle sharing and/or sexual behaviours in the three months prior to interview were putting them at risk of AIDS. Dance (1990b) gives a report of such behaviours for all twenty five people interviewed.

Barnes’ extensive experience with networking leads him to conclude that "As with many analyses, data for the construction of social relations comes from interviews, responses to questions and observation" (1972:23). In the case of this network all three methods were involved, with observation proving to be the most beneficial; which is probably the only way of confirming links within a network such as this.

Ethnographic aspects of the research

Roger has lived in two different homes since I first met him; both situated in quiet tree-lined streets in inner Canberra suburbs where he and his housemates are regularly joined by friends who come to share conversation, food, games (such as chess or Scrabble) and drugs ranging from caffeine through to heroin. During my visits I have witnessed the interactions of what corresponds to an extended family.

Here I display some of my prior prejudices; I had obviously anticipated a den of iniquity, for my initial thought on my first visit, as I observed the normality, the clean house, the two people cooking was, ‘This could be any group of young people in any suburban house in Canberra at this time of day."

I had completed all my interviews for the first piece of the research when I went to a cocktail party at Roger’s to celebrate his birthday. Amongst forty to fifty people, there were twelve that I had interviewed Since Roger had stated at his interview that 100% of his friends were illicit drug users, it is improbable that there were any non illicit drug users present at his birthday party.

During the course of the evening I became involved in conversations not only about how my thesis was going but on such eclectic topics as the legalization of drugs, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, what Mozart might have written if he had lived longer, Mary Shelley and "Frankenstein", "Kubla Khan", evolution, Christianity and what an excellent movie "Sid and Nancy"* is. What was most remarkable about these people was the diversity of age, race, and background. The age group spanned from late teens to mid forties; about seventy five per cent of people present were of Anglo-Celtic origin, the remainder were either Aborigines (none of whom had been interviewed), or had originated from several different parts of Asia. There were young people whose style of dress might cause them to be labelled as punks, people still dressed in the style of the hippie era, and people dressed like any "mainstream" Australian. People who were unemployed were there as equals with academics, students, labourers, and public servants. What this all serves to show is that there can no longer, with any justification, be a stereotypical image of what the "typical drug user" looks like, does for a living or what her or his interests are. "Sid and Nancy" is a film about the drug taking life and death of Sid Vicious. a punk rock star, and his girlfriend Nancy. several occasions of interaction with group members and the level of the conversation is always stimulating. Roger is now one of those of my friends whose company I most enjoy. Much of our talk revolves around drugs, which informs my current research, but we also talk about such mutual interests as international politics, music and religion. I have also been present at several occasions of group interactions. The settings for these have varied from the local pub, Roger’s home, my home and various restaurants and places of entertainment around Canberra.

I have in mind Power’s comment about the worries of being parasitical on informants (1989:49), and tried to avoid this danger on several occasions: for example I once gave Roger six tickets for him and his closest friends to go and see "The Big Gig" stars who were appearing in Canberra. A week after the show there was a phone call from Roger to ascertain that we were in. He then came round with an Indian take away meal two bottles of wine, a six pack of beers, a bunch of orchids for me and another present each for my partner and me. I later discussed this with some of the informants who told me something I know well from my other relationships, "You don't try and pay your friends back, you’re just friends." Because Roger is a key group member I benefit from what Fetterman calls the "halo effect" which he defines as being the trust the group places in the intermediary approximating the trust extended to the researcher (1988). My friendship with Roger and those closest to him in the group also protects me at group interactions where there might be people present I have not met before.

It is important for ethnographic researchers to be present at what Fettermnan (1988) calls "key events" and the major key event for this group is the fascinating ritual surrounding Saint Oswald, "a patron saint" of drug use which the group have invented. This spoof religion, which is described in Dance and Mugford (1991), was invented by this group of agnostics and every year there is a celebration of Saint Oswald’s day. I have been invited to two of these occasions and the parallel of this is that I believe that given such a relationship it is necessary for the researcher to reciprocate. A major event in my life during 1990 was my graduation. I had invited all my friends to a party at my home to celebrate and told Roger that if anyone from the group wanted to come along they would be most welcome. About thirty group members turned up, much to the surprise of many of my other guests. As I had expected they were very well behaved, obviously enjoyed themselves, as they do at all parties, and obviously approved of this reciprocal gesture .

Another important aspect of my work is its orientation to Action Research (Wadsworth 1990) and whilst ensuring confidentiality for respondents I have fed back the results of my research to the group. Respondents are aware that the data is treated sensitively and they are pleased that I am trying to present a more realistic image of what amounts to the majority of illicit drug users, those who are non-dependent and non-captive. The interactions with respondents informs my current research on networks and harm minimisation strategies among illicit drug users. Above all the feedback on those risky behaviours which some group members still participate in has, I’ve been told, had an impact on reducing such behaviours.

Conclusion

This paper has outlined what may seem to be an idiosyncratic approach to researching illicit drug use but I believe that the methodology contains elements which can be replicated. Other researchers may not wish to involve themselves in participant observation, let alone befriend illicit drug users. What all researchers can do, however, is to treat illicit drug users first as people and not as deviants erroneously perceived to be so very different from themselves. This has proved to be a way of obtaining illuminating data on the activities of illicit drug users.

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the debt I owe to Stephen Mugford for firing me with enthusiasm for research into illicit drug use and then, along with Gabriele Bammer, helping me maintain that enthusiasm I would also like to thank those people who became my friends during the process of my research .

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