The Shadow of the Future: A Qualitative Study on Norwegian Young Adults’ Motivations for Starting, Maintaining, and Quitting Substance Use

Abstract

Narrative biographical interviewing of six respondents revealed a plethora of motivations for starting, continuing and ending substance use with a focus on cocaine and cannabis. For initiated use, these are tied to health, social defiance/rebelliousness and networking. Some factors for continued use are drug experiences, community and continued medical use. Factors for quitting in the future were tied to notions of increased societal interdependency and attachments and increased risk. Cannabis users saw little incentive to quit in the future, however if they were it had to be triggered by reinterpretation of cannabis.

All respondents make a distinction between cannabis culture and party culture, and “junkie culture” where the main difference lie in purpose of use and desired drug experience. Fear of continuing substance use from the life phase of adolescence into adulthood is termed “the shadow of the future.” Illicit substance use, especially in party terms, is okay when young. However, when transitioning from one phase to the next, use is ceased or drastically reduced to ensure that the imagined, established life with obligations to work and family is undistorted.