University of Helsinki
Drug use as a phenomenon has changed. This circumstance is studied from various perspectives in Sanna Rönkä’s new dissertation work that was defended on the 12th of January.
– The idea that medical drugs are good and illicit drugs are bad is not in line with the evidence that we have about drug-related deaths in the 2000s, stated PhD student Rönkä in her lecture.
In order to unfold the development over time Rönkä approaches the drug-related deaths from many different angles making the changing drug use context her main focus. Her point of departure is the recorded development of the Finnish drug problem from a minor issue to approximately the European average since the mid-1990s:
– The special characteristic of the Finnish drug situation is non-medical use of prescription opioids among people who inject drugs, says Rönkä.
The dissertation inquires into different aspects of how the drug use context has changed over time.
– Prescription drugs which are relatively safe in a medical context and have in the past been considered only in that framework are now becoming dangerous in the context of non-medical drug use, explains Rönkä.
She discerns a process of marginalisation leading to drug-related death as starting at an early age. The results indicate that people on disability pension are especially likely to experience drug-related deaths related to purchases of prescription drugs. Lower education, long- or short-term unemployment, early retirement, divorce, not living in a private household, and living alone were associated with total drug-related mortality in men and women—and also in all subcategories of drug-related deaths. Furthermore, drug-related deaths are linked to high confidence in personal drug use competence, often as a result of cumulated user knowledge on online forums.
Various research materials were employed in the multi-methodological work: register data, interviews with elderly drug users, and analysis of discussion threads on drug users’ online forum.
A red line that carries through the work is the growing societal relevance of pharmaceutical drugs also known as the trend of a pharmaceuticalisation. It is reflected in drug-related deaths, in the social determinants associated with drug-related mortality, and in the role of drug use contexts in drug-related deaths.
Sanna Rönkä defended her dissertation 12.1.2019 at the University of Helsinki. Adjunct professor Katja Kuusisto from Tampere University served as opponent.
Sanna Rönkä: Huumeiden käyttäjien kuolemat Suomessa: Monimenetelmäinen tutkimus lääkkeellistymisen, sosiaalisen huono-osaisuuden ja huumeiden käyttökontekstien näkökulmasta. Helsingin Yliopisto.
