Poverty, inequality and drugs

Susanne MacGregor and Aileen O’Gorman

Chapter 21 in Research Handbook on Drugs and Society, 2026, pp 264-279 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Public and policy debates on poverty, inequality and drugs are hotly contested social issues in public discourse, policy and research. The polarisation of opinions and proposed solutions derive from whether these issues are seen to arise from individual characteristics and behaviours or social contexts and structures. In this chapter, we explore the key scholarly themes and explanatory concepts that underpin these debates, such as social disorganisation, deaths of despair, the social determinants of health and (intersectional) risk environments. We note the role of criminal justice/penal policy and punitive welfare policies in responding to poverty and drug use. Our analysis attends to the need for research that addresses the interrelationship between poverty and inequality with drug-taking, drugs policy and the political economy of drugs from the local to the global.

Keywords: Drugs; Drug policy; Poverty; Inequality; Social determinants; Risk environments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802209136
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