The main objective of DRUGTREND is to enhance understanding of the cultural and social factors driving changes in youth drug use patterns, with a specific focus on the role of social media platforms.
Drug use patterns among young people in Norway are currently changing. While youth alcohol consumption witnessed a notable decline after the turn of the millennium, trends in illicit drug use have followed a different trajectory, with cannabis and cocaine use currently on the rise. Concurrently, the global drug landscape has undergone profound transformations over the past decades, driven by evolving legislation and liberalizing social attitudes.
These transformations also include the growing influence of digital platforms, which have fuelled capitalist commercialization and influencer marketing within the drug trade, enabled new forms of drug dealing via social media and encrypted messaging apps, and integrated drug use into an increasingly digitalized youth culture. Yet, there is a lack of evidence on how these contemporary sociodigital developments influence youth cultures of drug use. The main objective of DRUGTREND is to enhance understanding of the cultural and social factors driving changes in youth drug use patterns, with a specific focus on the role of social media platforms.
Methods and work packages
Drawing on unique and extensive data from multiple sources, DRUGTREND will study (WP1) how online framings of illicit drugs on social media influence youth understandings of these substances, (WP2) the cultural practices involved in adolescent drug and alcohol use, and (WP3) changes in drug use patterns over time and how these changes relate to broader shifts in youth culture, particularly the increasing digitalization of adolescent life.
Based on a combination of digital ethnographic data (WP1), qualitative interviews (WP1 and WP2), and survey data (WP3), the study is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current changes to young people's drug use, capturing both measurable trends and the experiences and perspectives of young people themselves.
