As stated throughout the study, the existence of a moral crisis cannot be explained solely in terms of the presence of a moral crisis entrepreneur. This concept has been applied to Britain's drug Czar throughout this dissertation on the evidence that he is the individual appointed by the government to monitor drug trends and tackle them in ways he sees fit to do so. In other words he has the power to use his own ideas, authority and initiatives to combat drug rises. However, his concern lies on a national scale, and as this study is based locally it was critical to identify small-scale moral crisis entrepreneurs, which this study refers to as moral crisis agents.
Of course they do not have the same power and status as the moral crisis entrepreneur, but at a local level they are the ones who introduce new initiatives and ideas, it is they who offer views and opinions about drug trends to the public. These agents have numerous functions and responsibilities at a local level (discussed in Chapter 6) but decisively they work under the influence and rules incorporated by the moral crisis entrepreneur. So in 1998 when Mr Halliwell stated that we were in the grips of a heroin epidemic, it was the responsibility of the crisis agents to reiterate and force home the message at a local level.
However according to Becker’s model, the presence of a
moral crisis relies on five additional elements, which also need to be
fulfilled. This section will aim to present evidence to show that each of the
areas proposed by Becker can be met at a practical level.
1.THE ACTIVITY:
Becker believed that the first requirement was the need for a behaviour or condition to be focused upon, a situation that could be ‘made visible, highlighted, denounced and moralised about’ (Lidz & Walker 1980). Essentially a vague belief that there was some sort of evil in the world would not be enough to produce a crisis of this nature; the ‘evilness’ must have a specific focus so that action can be taken directly against it. A useful example would be an article that appeared in the local paper in April 2001, the headline read '‘WORSHIPERS TARGET DRUGS IN EVIL PARK.’ In the article a religious group invited the public to pray with them at the local park, in the hope of banishing the ‘evil’ that was causing people to use drugs in the park. In this example the evilness had a specific focus, drugs.
Even at this early stage it is clear to see that this activity would of course be heroin use, but at the same time that this activity is being focused upon, another threat is also made visible, heroin related crime. In one respect the link between heroin use and crime can be perceived to be powerful, heroin use could symbolise criminal activity.
This becomes more apparent when the heroin addict interviewed stated that. . .
The roles of the crisis agents are vital in the process of identifying the activity and moralising/highlighting the ‘problems’ and ‘dangers’ that surround it. For Becker there were four different types of crisis entrepreneur, education specialists, law enforcement personnel, political activists/radicals and medical psychiatric entrepreneurs. It must be emphasised that although they disagreed about the causes of, and solutions to the drug crisis, they all agreed on the most fundamental aspect of the crisis; that it actually existed. Furthermore they also collectively acknowledged the problems associated with drug use and drug users.
To highlight the difference between each type of
entrepreneur let us take the question of why people turn to drugs. For the medical
entrepreneurs drugs were ‘addictive,’ and so people that took them did not
choose to behave in the ways they were. For law enforcement specialists it was
the pusher theory, simply because around 1/3 of serious heroin addicts dealt
heroin to their associates (Lidz & Walker 1980 Pp. 81) punishment was
justified. For education entrepreneurs the problem lay with mis-education,
adequate preventative education could prevent epidemics. Finally for political
activists/radicals reasons for heroin use lay with social causes (i.e.
poverty), which provided them with a mandate to change the social structure. So
although there were notable differences between the four types, they also
shared common beliefs and values.
Upon applying such concepts to a local level, one was
able to locate these types of moral crisis agents and interview them. For this
area it is important to identify the behaviour they have focused upon, and the
views they express about the activity. Primarily it is important to state that
each crisis agent agreed that there was a heroin problem in the town, yet only
one crisis agent acknowledged the problem to be an epidemic. The other agents preferred
to use other words such as ‘concern,’ or ‘problem,’ they did not like the term
‘epidemic.’ At such an early stage it is clear to assume that ‘heroin use’ was
indeed the ‘activity’ focused upon by each of these agents.
At this stage is important to note that the law
enforcement and education agents have been fused together because, in this
town, it is the responsibility of the police to educate the public. Heroin
abuse on the national curriculum is virtually non-existent, and each of the
three individuals involved with the drug stated that they had no drug education
at all. The law enforcement agent combines his police work with the
responsibility of visiting schools and other groups, and informing them of the
‘dangers’ that accompany drugs.
It was his belief that heroin was the ‘biggest concern
in XXXXXXX’ (AA: Pp.45. 3.6) Furthermore he added that the community had a
right to be concerned because of the increase in users and the increase in its
availability on the streets. He highlighted his own ‘frightening’ concern that
many people were using it as a first drug and that the ‘danger’ of the quality of
the drug was also a major problem. On the subject of young people taking
heroin, he stated that he wouldn’t be surprised if 13 and 14 year olds were
taking the drug (AA: Pp.47. 5.4). When asked whether the public knew only half
the story surrounding heroin use (i.e. from the papers, himself) he replied
that it was that half that needed to be highlighted, that the dangers of the
drug needed to be emphasised, (not the pleasures) along with the fact that half
of the heroin addicts committed crime to support their habits and that kids
have picked syringes up and ended up in hospital.
The medical agent added that she ‘knew’ that heroin
had infiltrated schools, and that ‘more girls than boys’ had habits at the age
of 15. She also believed that ‘custodial options’ for dealers was a must, and
that ‘more’ social control was needed.(AA Pp. 50-53)
The radical agent used an example of another town
being taken over by heroin in the space of three years, of which its emergence
over such a short period of time indicates it to be a major ‘problem.’ He also
said that his job is to help people become clean, but he could only do that at
a physical level, the psychological level is their problem and lasts for the
rest of their lives. His last comment was that he could only see the problem
getting worse, which according to him ‘paints a pretty depressing picture’ (AA:
Pp.55 9.5).
When asked whether they were concerned both at a
professional and personal level all three moral crisis agents agreed that they
were. We can see from their responses that they are all highly concerned and
worried about the heroin problem, they make it ‘visible’ and denounce it in
through media and oral channels that it is highly dangerous to both the user
and the community. The main stand in terms of moralising about it comes in the
form of young people, the theme of it ‘infiltrating schools’ ran concurrent
among the three agents-if our children are taking it than something must be
done.
From this evidence it would be quite fair to say that
the requirements for this element, the activity, have been met. Heroin use (and
consequently heroin related crime) is indeed the focal point for these agents,
and ultimately their beliefs will be transgressed onto the rest of the town.
2. THE DEVIANTS
This component is the need to identify a group of people who can be held responsible for the existence of the problem, groups or individuals whom the moral crisis agents can denounce. For Becker, the agents will ‘directly appeal to them’ to reform, or come clean, in order to rejoin the rest of society. Again this requirement can be met through the interview data collected from the crisis agents.
The law enforcement/education agent believes that
around 50% of heroin addicts commit crime to support their habits, and so from
this view it could be deduced that these 50% who need to pay for their drugs
through crime may be unemployed. If for arguments sake that was the case, then
the unemployed would be a group heavily associated with taking heroin. It may
be wrong to make such assumptions, but when you add his views on why people
take drugs, that when people are down they want a ‘quick fix’ and boredom, the
argument may be somewhat more viable. Young people are also another group
targeted, stating that the average age of the heroin user was between 15-18
years old and that he ‘wouldn’t be surprised if some 13-14 year old kids were
using it.’
The medical agent also suggested that the ‘kids [who
took heroin] were getting younger.’ She believed that 18-25 year olds were the
most frequent group taking the drug, and that one of the main reasons for
turning to heroin was boredom. The radical agent also highlighted the fact that
people who were taking it were getting younger, and the reasons for using it
centred around boredom, peer pressure and taking it simply because it was
there.
What we can conclude from these views is that boredom
plays a huge role in being a reason for taking the drug, along with people
having more time on their hands. They all agreed that heroin was being used in
schools and that the people who took it were getting younger. Lastly the law
enforcement/education agent stated that over half of heroin addicts committed
crime to support their habit (although according to the heroin addicts I spoke
to the number is more like 70%), hinting that the unemployed make up a large
section of those who take it. What we are left with is a group of ‘deviants’
who are predominantly young and unemployed-the perfect candidates to be
labeled ‘heroin users’ as they do not have the social power to resist labels.
3. AN AUDIENCE
According to Becker any moral crisis needs an audience, ‘members of the relevant community’ to whom the crisis agent can effectively appeal to. The audience are expected to act as moral judges and uphold the moral schemas in place within society, and although the audience do not necessarily have to believe in the schemas, they are nevertheless expected to uphold them. Perhaps the best example would be the issue of cannabis-many people may personally want to see it legalised, but because it is an illegal drug they do not express their personal views in the public sphere-they agree with the overriding schema that cannabis is dangerous and should not be legalised.
The audience in this case is the population of
XXXXXX, and the three individuals I interviewed who were connected with
heroin in some way, expressed the opinion that people are very judgmental of
heroin addicts. An example of such beliefs would be the view of the heroin
addicts I interviewed;
“A stereotypical heroin addict is someone who will rob an old grannies handbags
and throw needles about.”
(AA: Pp.57. 10.5)
The audience will judge heroin addicts on the basis that the drug is illegal and highly dangerous. The views and opinions they form are largely molded by what they see in the mass media. With headlines like ‘Horror as youngsters find syringes’ (XXXXXXX Journal. Aug 14, 1998), ‘Heroin addict mugged pensioner’ (XXXXXXX Journal. April 16, 1999) and ‘Addict stole items after hallucinating’ (XXXXXXX Journal. July 30, 1999) the audience can form their own negative opinions regarding heroin. Consequently we have an audience that is highly receptive and supportive of the crisis agents, and disgusted with heroin users.
4. MEANS OF
COMMUNICATION
There must be a means of communication between the crisis agent and his respective audience, and although television, radio and the mass media are used on a national scale, the specialised communication channel at a local level is the local paper, The XXXXXX Journal. The news media is vital in informing the audience of the drug epidemic, as well as uniting the mass against the deviant group. The increase in the number of heroin related articles over the past 5 years has been vital to the production of a panic, and in helping the population of the town to recognise the extent of the heroin problem. For example in 1996 there were less than 10 heroin related articles in the paper, yet in 2000 there were 83. Essentially people cannot escape from the problem; they are becoming increasingly exposed to the extent of the heroin problem in the town.
Headlines are very important for shaping the views and
attitudes of the audience, and moral crisis agents have used that factor to its
maximum potential (see AF). The local paper works closely with its crisis
agents, in the past 5 years there have been around 10 articles based around the
work of the medical agent. Furthermore
the law enforcement/education agent stated in his interview that the police
have ‘an association’ with the paper, adding ‘if we want something highlighted
we will tell them’(AA: Pp.49 6.1)
5. THE
VIOLATION/DESICRATION OF MORAL SCHEMAS
The last requirement that must be met if a moral
crisis is to exist is the need to show the audience that the deviant, the
heroin addict, is violating the moral schemas that exist in society. By morals
we can refer back to the dualism’s introduced in the introduction; good and
evil, right and wrong, good and bad. Generally we, as a society, have a shared
morality, we all know, say, that it is wrong to murder someone, and those that
commit this act must be punished. That is a moral schema that has existed in
society for many centuries, it is wrong to murder someone, those that murder
are evil-these are views instilled into many of us from the day we are born.
This can be translated to heroin use, we are lead to believe that heroin use is
wrong, it is bad-and those that take it are bad.
This is no more apparent than in an issue of the
Journal (Apr 6, 2001) whereby an article was
devoted to a religious group who were going down to a park (know for its
prevalence of heroin addicts) at 6.30am to pray and cast away the
‘evilness’ that had manifested itself there.
Through the Journal, crisis agents and the mass media
we are all exposed to images and portrayals of the heroin addict (i.e. the film
Trainspotting) as someone who commits crime, leaves his needles lying around in
parks, ruins his/her life, is a danger to the community and who splits up their
families. These actions ultimately are perceived as ‘wrong,’ they violate the
moral schemas we are brought up to believe in and support, and so those who
violate them are seen as deviant. As a town, we see their breaches of the
schemas largely through the local paper, the communication channel between the
crisis entrepreneur and the audience. Importance is placed on the local paper
because it is vital that this particular audience sees the moral schemas
violated in there ‘own backyard’ so to speak, and the achievement of the paper
in carrying out this function has been hugely successful.
Consequently the meeting of the criteria for these
five elements has been largely successful; each section has presented evidence,
which fulfils the requirements necessary. We can draw a conclusion from this
section that the grounds for a moral panic have been met, but the extent of the
panic, and its success need to be discovered.
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