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= USING INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
drugs from acquaintances and friends or the internet (Hungarian National
Focal, 2015). Following the emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPS)
in the Hungarian drug market, these substances, which mainly belong to
groups of synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones or amphetamine de¬
rivatives, have become as popular as established illicit drugs, in particular
among young adults (EMCDDA, 2018; Paksi, 2017). According to the Euro¬
pean School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) the second
most popular drug was synthetic cannabinoid among school age youth (Elekes,
2016). Phenomenon of novel psychoactive substance use is considered to be
very serious by the professionals working in addiction field, but statistics show
different facts. According to B. M. Erdős et al. (2018) further research (applying
ethnographic methods) is reguired to discover the phenomenon.
While there is an increasing body of research on the motivation and the
effects associated with SC use (Arfken, Owens, Madeja, & DeAngelis, 2014;
Barratt, Cakic, & Lenton, 2013; Bonar, Ashrafioun, & Ilgen, 2014; Castellanos,
Singh, Thornton, Avila, & Moreno, 2011; Meshack et al., 2013), and many pa¬
pers published clinical case reports on withdrawal symptoms (Nacca et al., 2013;
Van Der Veer & Friday, 2011; Zimmermann et al., 2009), psychosis (Ev¬
ery-Palmer, 2011) and psychotic symptoms (Miller et al., 2010) following SC
consumption, there is a considerable lack of qualitative research that examines
users’ subjective experiences. At the time of the examination, there was only
one available study that employed a qualitative method, Bilgrei (2016) analyzed
discussions on experiences of SC use in posts of an online drug forum and
interviews with forum participants, but little was known about the subjective
interpretation of SC use by the people themselves who used SCs. Therefore, the
second empirical study included in my book (Study 2)* had one primary goal:
(1) to examine personal interpretations of experiences derived from the
use of synthetic cannabinoids
Identity work, more specifically the perception and transformation of the
‘addicted self” are important processes during recovery from psychoactive
substance addiction (Larkin & Griffiths, 2002). A key to the transformation
of the self is the realization of the addict that the so-called ,,damaged self” has
to be restored by reawakening the old identity or establishing a new one
(Biernacki, 1986). The addict transforms his or her ,,spoiled identity” (as
described by Goffman (1963)), with the aim of constructing the ,,non-addict
identity’, and the identity of recovery (J. McIntosh & McKeganey, 2001).
According to J. McIntosh and McKeganey (2000), the alteration of experi¬
ences and the alteration of identity are parallel processes. Experiences of users
2: (Kassai, Pintér, Rácz, Böröndi, et al., 2017)