How Do Researchers Categorize Drugs, and How Do Drug Users Categorize Them?

Abstract

This article considers the drug classifications and terms widely used in American survey research, and compares these to the classifications and terms used by drug users. We begin with a critical review of drug classification systems oriented to public policy, health services and survey research. We then consider the results of a pile sort exercise we conducted with 76 respondents within a study of Southeast Asian American adolescent and young adult drug users in Northern California. The pile sort aimed to clarify how respondents handled specific terms related to Ecstasy and methamphetamines. Like survey researchers, the respondents tended to separate Ecstasy from methamphetamines, but unlike survey researchers, they also created taxonomies based on consumption method and the social contexts of use. We suggest these differences reflect the tendency for survey researchers to standardize persons and experiences, and for drug users to represent their experiences as hybrid and diverse.