Around Insite: A Discursive Event
This article revisits the hypothesis whereby perilization logic reinforces both the prohibitionist and the therapeutic logics. This hypothesis was put forward in order to explain the apparent political success of harm reduction practices and policies, these being grounded in the perilization logic. This reflection is realized through an examination of the statements produced around Insite, one of two safe injection services in Vancouver. Using a Foucauldian-inspired approach to discourse analysis, it shows how certain statements have problematized both the therapeutic and prohibitionist logics even as they have partly renewed them. As a conclusion, an exploratory discussion of some of the possibilities opened up by this “discursive event” is initiated.