Established Tables and Emergent Huddles: Exploring the Processes of Participation Associated With the Policy Changes to Opioid Pharmacotherapy Treatment in Australia in the Context of COVID-19

Richard Mellor, Matthew Kearnes, Kari Lancaster, Laura McLauchlan, Alison Ritter

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Abstract

In this paper we document and analyze emergent participatory processes in drug policy, focusing on the relations between established modes of engagement and emergent participatory formats. We do this through analysis of a case example, attending to policy changes to opioid pharmacotherapy treatment in the context of COVID-19 in Australia. Semistructured interviews (n = 22) were undertaken between August 2020 and March 2021 with people closely involved in the recent policy changes and discussions surrounding opioid pharmacotherapy treatment in Australia. The analysis of the interview accounts followed work which has forged relational, co-productionist and materialist understandings of participation. Two figures of participation were encountered in the interview accounts: the tables of participation and the huddles of participation. The tables seemingly represented a standardized set of bureaucratic mechanisms for the inclusion of the “voices” of people who use drugs. The huddles emerged as a responsive and less coherent set of ad hoc participatory collectives in the context of rapid policy changes during COVID-19. Instead of viewing emergence as distinct from existing participatory formats, emergence was conceptualized ecologically in this article—that is in relation to established forms of participation. As the institutionally mandated tables served the basis for the emergent huddles of participation in this case study, it demonstrates that even the most foreclosed participatory structures can adapt and be responsive to evolving situations of need, perhaps also in ordinary times and not just in emergency conditions.
Original languageEnglish
JournalContemporary Drug Problems
Volume49
Issue number4
Early online date8 Sept 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 31 Dec 2022

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank everyone who participated in the interviews, for being more than generous with the expertise and knowledge they shared with the research team.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant (200100909) and an anonymous benefactor. Alison Ritter receives an NHMRC Research Fellowship (GNT1136944). Kari Lancaster is supported by the UNSW Scientia program.

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