Drugs Discourse In Denial:Can We Talk About Pleasure

Yet?Dayle Stubbs

Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL)

Why Pleasure?

Pleasure is fundamental

To the human condition

To happiness, to a good life, a pleasant life

Pleasure

Absence of Displeasure

Satisfaction

(Martin 2008: 148)

Pleasure in Context: The Dilemma

People use drugs because it feels good, but

In treatment settings, we must NOT speak of pleasure – we must erase it from memory

Treatment Settings: Silencing Pleasure

The Million Dollar Question:

“Why do you use drugs?”

“Because I like it”

Why can’t we talk about pleasure?

Why is pleasure unacknowledged and unexplored in treatment settings?

And what are the consequences for that?

Why we can’t talk about pleasureMoralism of Abstinence

Pleasure framed as false

Drug user as inauthentic, as less – as an object of either pity or derision

Pleasure As The Missing Link?Could treatment experiences (and

outcomes) be improved if we were allowed to acknowledge pleasure?