Consumption and crime as producers of identity

Consume, commit a crime, consume again. Problematic consumption and the compulsive act of committing crimes can be considered within the framework of a process of construction of subjectivity. This is a different reading than the simple idea that those who take drugs and steal are people who choose the "easy life" or the bad life.

Problematic substance use involves a relationship between a person and a drug, with a singular meaning and functions. In turn, for those who also commit crimes, this way of behaving has an implied function.

We observe identities constituted as a function of having, with repeated accounts that refer to the fact that "I am" (I am someone, I am important), "because I have" (weapons or substance, ingested or in my pocket and for to share). Phrases like "When I used / when I went out to steal, it was different, I felt better, more important." More "complete", we could add, understanding abstinence from both compulsive acts as equivalent to a disturbing emptiness, a 

crisis in identity and a loss of the sense of belonging built in the peer groups, on the corner, on the street.

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An identity built by drug use

Stopping meeting with fellow users represents a grieving process, an act of dis-affiliation, disconnection with the ties that he has been able to build and sustain in that context. They are ties united by the shared enjoyment that consuming and committing crimes with others implies, which acts as a generator of identification that makes them belong.

If a person has felt left out by his family, school or broader social context, he can, through consumption or crime, feeling that they are part of society, for example under the label of being part of the "dangerous kids in the neighborhood." In this way it is seen by society, frowned upon but seen after all.

Something comes up in street culture

On the corner, on the street, socialization processes take place that have not been generated in other areas such as the family or the school, due to the crises that these institutions suffer, since they should integrate, contain, train and end up excluding.

Faced with the absence of other significant people, new references are idealized, such as the leader of the band, fellow consumers or the boys on the corner. Belonging is created, which begins by consolidating some of the subjectivity.

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Something also comes up in jail

When conceptualizing the act of crime as a way of (and to) be someone, we can think that the act of serving a sentence And, as many say, "owing nothing to justice" does not represent in all situations an act of liberation and Liberty. In many cases, they feel that "in jail I was better." It is easier to break the law than to respect it, give rise to the compulsive act of crime that generate new ways of linking with the law and others.

As long as social rules and norms are not internalized, conflict resolution is not thought through words and compulsive consumption is not seen as a health problem, being free in society is not necessarily the same as feeling free. On the contrary, he is a prisoner of himself, of his lack of control and his difficulty in setting limits, prisoner released from his repetition impossible to control, so he pulses and drives without elaboration through. Without incorporation of the law, it seeks to transgress it, in an uncontrollable way.

Addicts feel imprisoned in freedom, conditioned to abide by a law that they are not willing or prepared to do. respect, prisoners of their own freedom, with the magnitude of possibilities and responsibilities that freedom Means.

Although it seems paradoxical, the transgression of the law is present within the prison systemenabling compulsive acts, violence, addictions, among other risky situations not interpreted as such by those who carry them out. Therefore, they can make them feel free in prison.

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The meaning of life through consumption and violence

Consumption and violence are beginning to be seen as necessary and even more valued than health and freedom itself. The patterns of behavior and thoughts constructed in the prison context they are internalized in such a way that the fact of producing changes when recovering freedom is constituted as a real challenge.

Consumption and crime end up giving meaning to life and for this to stop having that function, new meanings will have to be built. A comprehensive approach will be necessary, with implications at a personal, family, social, cultural, political level, etc.

Health promotion, risk factor reduction and strengthening of protective factors: teaching and promoting healthy lifestyle habits, new ways of solving problems daily conflicts, modification of ways of relating to others, self-observation, control of impulses and emotions, use of words instead of actions compulsive. In short, without compulsive consumption or crime, seek and assume new ways of being and living.