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52 = USING INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
the first things in the morning), lost control, and fears around adverse effects
that we found in this study were also reported by Van Hout and Hearne (2016).
According to participant accounts, the rapid development of negative ex¬
periences is the biggest difference between SCs and other drugs. In a quali¬
tative study with people who used mephedrone (O'Neill, 2014), participants
recalled mostly positive experiences (including euphoria, wellbeing,
talkativeness).
Adverse side effects were also reported as necessary components of the
overall mephedrone experience, which was perceived as largely positive. Lee,
Battle, Soller, and Brandes (2011) found that people who used ecstasy reported
positive and predictable negative effects. The experience patterns of gamma
hydro-xybutyrate (GHB) reported by people who used the drug were also
very similar (Barker, Harris, & Dyer, 2007). The effects of GHB use were
perceived mostly positive (such as euphoria, relaxation, increased sexual de¬
sire), but participants reported that negative effects were necessary in order
to reach the desired effects of GHB. These risks could be controlled with the
presence of a user group (Barker et al., 2007).
According to the accounts of participants in our study, the use of SCs
evoked unpredictable and severe effects such as psychosis, as it was also de¬
scribed by Every-Palmer (2011). As such, the consumption of SCs could cause
not only temporal psychotic symptoms but also persistent ones (Miller et al.,
2010). Due to the rapid alteration of experiences and psychotic symptoms,
participants perceived the effects of SCs unpredictable, which explains the
paranoid perceptions. It is important to note that we did not have information
about what kind of SCs participants use during their drug consumption ¬
usually neither the people who use nor the dealers know what actual com¬
pounds are on the market. This also could be a factor of unpredictability.
Furthermore, the changing experience of positive to negative effects could be
related to legislative changes that have led to more toxic SCs being used to
make the products. As Barratt et al. (2013) outlined, JWH-018 did not appear
to have any more toxicity or likelihood to cause psychosis than natural can¬
nabis. However, as Bright, Bishop, Kane, Marsh, and Barratt (2013) demon¬
strate, there is a complex interface between moral panic in the media, reactive
legislation, and increased harm. This interplay between legislative changes
and Hungarian media - where the portrayal of NPS could enhance moral
panic (Kassai, Racz, et al., 2017; Pelbat et al., 2016) - could contribute to the
emergence of new SCs with increased toxicity.
Participants experienced a strange sense of self (the drug changed them,
they became asocial, and the drug made them do things that they would have
never done when they are sober) and they felt they were controlled or even
hijacked by the drug. The narrative of a drug “taking over” one’s life is a per¬
sonification of the drug (which is an old narrative of antidrug propaganda,