Avoiding the Knarkare

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter delves into the most threatening images associated with people who use drugs. The Swedish concept of a knarkare—a person who uses drugs—symbolises dirt and danger and is very similar to the most negative images of the working class. But the knarkare has its own symbols, such as the hypodermic syringe that once signified purity, the opposite of dirt. Feminine representations of the knarkare are linked to perceptions of the sex trade and the whore. I have examined how the participants relate to these cultural perceptions of knarkare and how they move close to it and keep their distance from it during and after using drugs. The problem with the knarkare is that they are commonly portrayed as engaging in harmful and problematic behaviours. The material shows that, in some contexts, it is enough to talk about drug use for someone to transform from a person who uses  drugs into a knarkare, in front of the listener’s eyes.