The citizen’s participation in recognizing the right to pleasure: social insertion and rights of opioid users
Citizenship is a fragile object, a source of questions for practitioners and researchers, as well as users. This article is the result of a dialogue held during the second Colloque international francophone sur la dépendance aux opioïdes (Paris, November 4 and 5, 2010), which brought together a research scientist from Quebec and a French representative of drug users self-support initiatives. Both attempted to answer the question: Can the citizenship of a drug user be a determining factor in the success of opioid substitution treatments (OST)? The answer is unclear. It indicates both the positive virtuality of the dimension of the citizen in the therapeutic space, but also the limits of this exercise in the specific framework of OSTs. Over the past 20 years, public authorities in France as well as in Quebec have reinforced legal provisions which facilitate the individual’s participation without involving representatives of the addiction sector to any significant degree. This situation is the result of a lack of competence which is worthy of being taken into account, but also points to a particular stigmatization of OST users, always suspected of being self-indulgent in their drug addiction.