9.8 Chapter Summary

Key Summary Points

  1. Stigma can lead to feelings of shame, contribute to a negative self-image, poor mental health, while impacting the health and treatment outcomes of PWUS.
  2. There are three different forms of stigma: social, self, and structural, each of which impacts PWUS in different ways.
  3. Stigma can make it difficult for PWUS to integrate into society and access resources for health, healing, and recovery.
  4. Prohibitionist policies and the politics that the war on drugs have generated have reinforced and exacerbated the stigma faced by PWUS.
  5. Education efforts that focus on explaining the implications of stigmatizing language and the importance of using person-first language, are critical to overcoming drug-related stigma.
  6. Including the voices of PWLLE, and involving them as experts in the design, implementation and review of drug policy, treatment, and intervention programs, is essential to the process of de-stigmatizing substance use and promoting health, healing, and recovery for people experiencing SUDs.

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Psychoactive Substances & Society (2nd Edition) Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline Lewis & Jillian Holland-Penney is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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