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Introduction
In the early twenty-first century, new theories have emerged within the area of youth culture and intoxication (Bennett, 2005; Blackman, 2005; Measham and Shiner, 2009). In the study of youth subculture, there has been a growth in theories, derived from a postmodernist position, offering new terms, for example 'post-subculture', 'scene' and 'tribe'. In the area of youth drug consumption, a key innovation has been the theory of drug normalisation. Sitting alongside these changes in social and cultural theory have been new developments in government policy towards the control of young people's lifestyles and forms of intoxication (Furlong, 2009). At the same time, representations of disordered alcohol and drug consumption by young people have received widespread coverage within the tabloid press (Kirsh, 2009). The first section of this article examines developments in government drug policy, discussing how prohibition has been constructed as a popular preventive to control young people's use of intoxicants. The second section critically addresses the theory of drug normalisation and argues that we have entered a legtimation crisis in prohibition policy (Habermas, 1975). In the final part, I shall argue that rather than postmodern approaches, the theory of subculture, based on the Chicago School premise of deviance as natural behaviour and re-articulated by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) (Hall and Jefferson, 1975), creates the theoretical opportunity to interpret substance consumption as a condition of normalisation.
Constructing a Popular Preventive
Government drug policy aims to devise ways to prevent young people from consuming illegal substances. Drug use is not a new problem, and neither is the requirement of government to control it. In the United States, Beck (1998), looking at 115 years of drug prevention, suggests that there has been little change, and argues that drug education continues to be constrained by the limited dictates of the 'no-use' injunction. In Britain, recent policy developments suggest a new focus, emphasising the flexibility of harm-reduction approaches. For example, the government website wiredforhealth.gov (2009) states that drug prevention aims to: 'reduce the harm caused by illegal drugs as measured by the Drug Harm Index'. Further, government policy speaks of community, parent involvement and integrated treatment, suggesting that harm reduction is in the ascendancy (Stimson, 2007). Within current drug education strategies, I shall examine normative...