Producing alcohol and other drugs as a policy 'problem': A critical analysis of South Africa's 'National Drug Master Plan' (2013-2017)

The International Journal on Drug Policy
Kiran Pienaar, Michael Savic

Abstract

The strong symbolic value of illicit drug use makes it a contested issue, which attracts mixed public opinion, intense media attention and close political scrutiny. This means that the formulation of plausible, authoritative policies governing illicit drugs must navigate fraught political terrain. In a country like South Africa with its long unique history of institutionalised oppression of the black majority, the issues confronting drug policy are particularly complex and the need for carefully formulated policy responses especially urgent. Yet despite this, the area of drug policy development in South Africa has received little scholarly attention to date. This paper explores the complexities of policymaking in the South African context by drawing on feminist scholar Carol Bacchi's poststructuralist approach to policy analysis, which focuses on how policy helps to produce the problems it purports to solve. Taking as its empirical focus, South Africa's current drug policy, the third National Drug Master Plan (NDMP), 2013-2017, the paper analyses how the policy constitutes the 'problem of alcohol and other drugs' (AODs). We identify three central policy proposals through which specific problematisations emerge: (1) the proposal...Continue Reading

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Sep 19, 2007·The International Journal on Drug Policy·Kylie Valentine, Suzanne Fraser
Nov 3, 2010·Substance Use & Misuse·Karl PeltzerNancy Phaswana-Mafuya
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Feb 5, 2014·The International Journal on Drug Policy·Kari Lancaster
Apr 8, 2014·The International Journal on Drug Policy·Kate Seear, Suzanne Fraser
May 13, 2015·The International Journal on Drug Policy·Kari LancasterAlison Ritter
Jun 30, 2015·The International Journal on Drug Policy·Kari LancasterCarla Treloar

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Citations

Mar 22, 2016·The International Journal on Drug Policy·Tim Rhodes, Reychad Abdool
May 14, 2016·The International Journal on Drug Policy·Tim RhodesTom Decorte
May 1, 2019·Health Research Policy and Systems·Babatope O AdebiyiAnna-Marie Beytell
Mar 20, 2019·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Babatope O AdebiyiAnna-Marie Beytell

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