Rethinking policy participation, ‘young people’ and ‘drugs’

Global and national organisations acknowledge the importance of meaningful opportunities for policy participation among young people and people who use drugs. However, the voices of young people are sidelined in drug policy processes. By using critical social science approaches to rethink policy participation practices, it may be possible to create opportunities for complex drug policy problems to be reimagined through young voices typically excluded from drug policy processes.

The overarching aim of this project was to explore whether and how alternative ways of doing ‘participation’ can open up new ways of thinking about policy problems relating to young people and drugs. Specifically, the project aimed to:

• Analyse how ‘young people’ and ‘drugs’ are constituted in Australian drug policies.
• Map different ways that young people participate in Australian drug policy.
• Explore experiences of youth participation in Australian drug policy processes.
• Design modes of participation that centre ‘young people’ on matters relating to ‘drugs’.

Dr Isabelle Volpe is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne).