4.1. Management of Law enforcement and identity dilemma
Feng et al. (2004) believed that it is imperative to pay attention to the diversity of PWUD’s identities in the process of drug control. A series of anti-drug campaigns in China[4] made PWUD not only consumers but also victims and lawbreakers (Bao, 2017). These multiple political identities have continued nowadays.
4.1.1. Drug laws and policies : Quasi-citizenship
Drug rehabilitation policies and laws emphasize the drug rehabilitation model, behavior change measures, and PWUD's management system, relying on the "People's Republic of China Anti-drug Law (2008)" (referred to as the Drug Law) and "Drug Rehabilitation Regulations (2011)" (referred to as the Regulations).
At first The Drug Law basically specifies the aims, that is, to prevent and punish drug-related crimes, to maintain social order, and to enact this law. Next, the Drug Law stipulates that anti-drug is a social responsibility, it contains prevention and governance, and emphasizes the diversity of subjects, including but not limited to state agencies, social groups, enterprises, institutions, and other organizations and citizens. The drug policy practice mechanism is responsible for government leaders and relevant departments, and society participates widely. In social moral cultural value oriented projects, the government/ the law explicitly encourages encouraging social donations to anti-drug work, report drug violations and crimes (provide commendations), and encouraging volunteers to participate in anti-drug publicity and education and social services for drug rehabilitation. The purpose of the law is to popularize drug prevention knowledge, enhance citizens' awareness of drug control, and improve citizens' ability to resist drugs consciously. Also, it is speculative, which is mainly reflected in the distinction between drug control and different drug use behaviors:
Drug control is an independent chapter. Control the cultivation of the original medicinal plants of narcotic drugs-prohibit illegal attention, extraction and processing, smuggling, etc. Narcotic drug extraction and processing plants, storage warehouses-national key alert targets. Implement control of narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs, implementation of a permit and inspection system (Lee-interviewee I, 2020)
Although the Drug Law states 'simultaneous prohibit planting, production, sales, and use,'[5] it mainly focuses on combating drugs' manufacture and trafficking. The critical warning items are illegal smuggling and trafficking by groups. For using drugrs, the Drug Law further distinguishes drug treatment departments, treatment procedures, and arrangements in drug treatment measures (basically similar to the "Drug Rehabilitation Regulations").
Unlike the Drug Law's comprehensive scope, the Regulations indicates enforcement guidance for drug rehabilitation. The general provisions declare that the "Regulations on Drug Rehabilitation" aim to standardize drug rehabilitation, help PWUD quit, and maintain social order. Also, drug rehabilitation's operation requires three participants: the government, the drug committee, and social forces. The government is responsible for cooperating with public security organs, health administration, and drug supervision and management departments to carry out using drug monitoring, investigation, and publicizing the results. The civil affairs, social security, education, and other departments provide guidance and support for rehabilitation and vocational skills training for community drug rehabilitation and rehabilitation by their duties. Therefore, the implementation subject was further refined into the township government (Chinese called Street Office) responsible for community drug rehabilitation and detoxification (later, a community assistance group was established).
The Drug Law and the Regulations act as a set of re-screening mechanisms to Screen socially qualified PWUD. Among them, who have experience in trafficking, manufacturing, and using are the first to elimination by drug policy. But some of them who only use the drug have the opportunity to become citizens again if they voluntarily participate in drug rehabilitation or passively compulsory drug rehabilitation. Of course, the former is also easier to obtain policy assistance.
Go to drug treatment institutions to receive treatment on your own, and the public security organs will not impose penalties on their original using drug... No discrimination in school enrollment, employment, social security... Personal information is kept confidential, and those who will not relapse within three years will no longer be implemented dynamic management and control, commendation for outstanding drug rehabilitation ("Drug Rehabilitation Regulations" p 6-7)
We have accepted a teenager who voluntarily rehabilitated drugs. His father brought him to the police. There is no precedent. The policeman at this police station was very insightful. He asked the teenager to be supervised and managed, and the community drug rehabilitation observed his treatment performance. They will not link drug use to the website and register him for the time being, but he will be connected to the Internet if he relapses or does not change. This is a kind of preferential treatment not linked to the national personal files. It is much more convenient for him to do many things (Huang-interviewee H, 2020).
Rules in the regulation, such as ‘will not impose penalties,’ which means that even if the drug takes a large dose and the form is terrible, those who participate in voluntary drug rehabilitation can be exempted from responsibility and will not be sent to a Compulsory Drug Institution (CDI). Interviewee Huang's experience confirms this point.
The Drug Law and the Regulations emphasize and promise the rights of becoming a legal citizen. The specific manifestations are: First, after the detoxification period, PWUD can enjoy citizenship in education, work, and social welfare benefits. Then, after the rehabilitation period (no relapse), the CAG promise to end surveillance and dynamical control. Through these two points, PWUDs are expected to become legal citizens again. Thus, we can regard PWUD within the period of detoxification and rehabilitation as "quasi-citizens" who are subject to inspection and discipline. However, it is precisely because of the nature of the investigation and screening that the quasi-citizenship of PWUD has become a traditional way of discrimination in education, work, and social welfare within the two-year detoxification period and the three-year rehabilitation period.
Also, it is reasonable that quasi-citizenship points to the process of becoming a legal citizen again. But in fact, comparing the "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (2015)", "the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China (2001)", "the Social Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China (2010)", "the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors (2012)", and even some regulations such as "Regulations on Application and Use of Motor Vehicle Driver's License (2012)", we discover that individuals with using drug experience are difficult to maintain the treatment of ordinary citizens in terms of education, work, and social welfare and they are excluded from the ownership of children and the use of motor vehicle driver's licenses. That is to say, the Regulations and other people's livelihood penalties involving PWUD are treated differently.
4.1.2. Law-enforcement agencies: the patient, the deviant, or risk-taker?
In implementing drug rehabilitation policies and laws, the leading agencies are the Narcotics Control Office (NCO), Police Station, and the Community Assistance Group (CAG).
The NCO is altogether called the Office of the Narcotics Control Committee established by governments at all levels. From the central government to the local government, the National NCO's management and execution system can find every level. Police Stations are subordinate to the public security organs and important tentacles of the NCO at the grassroots level. Police stations, as well as police and correctional officers, directly connect with PWUD. They are responsible for carrying out various specific drug control and rehabilitation work at the micro-level. They also need to complete political targets for specific urban drug control work. CAG's members are composed of police officers from the police station, community staff, social workers from social organizations, almost maintained 4 or 5 workers. A CAG is responsible for tracking 7–8 people and is accountable for the grassroots government-subdistrict office. The local NCO administers more than a dozen subdistrict offices and participates in management remotely. During the interview process, the state agency's macro and micro level departments present three different identity recognition: Patients, Deviant, or Risk-taker.
In interviews with the NCO head, Lee repeatedly emphasized that the Narcotics Office treats PWUD as patients:
Combating drug production, drug trafficking crimes and controlling drug substances, and PWUD "two attacks and two controls" unique political practices, focusing on PWUD, improving their risk assessment and hierarchical and classified control measures, and treating disabled PWUD in rehabilitation tackling tough battles and strictly controlling them... it is the task of our Office of Narcotics Control. In fact, at the level of understanding PWUD, we think addicts are patients, patients with physical diseases, and behavioral dependent diseases that need to be recovered(Lee-interviewee I,2020)
NCO’s focusing is to detect relapse behaviors and conduct health-risk assessments for PWUD. Their work philosophy is expressed as surveillance, classification, and arrangement of PWUD and their friends, especially to control them that not participation in drug trafficking or other illegal activities.
Our country classifies drugs into three categories: traditional drugs are opioids, synthetic drugs, and new drugs. The current rules and policies are still standard traditional and synthetic drugs, mainly heroin and methamphetamine. This type of drug is difficult to quit, and those with a long history of drug use are infected with this type of drug. Maybe it's useless to enter the camp several times because the behavior dependence is too strong. It is a painful and laborious process for them to participate in rehabilitation and addiction withdrawal. The new type of drugs is different. It acts on nerve excitement, and if you overeat, it will be damaged. However, we also communicated with the psychology experts that this kind of drug dependence is not healthy, so we usually detain them for 15 days before putting them back. Those who have received administrative detention will not affect the issuance of a certificate of no criminal record. (Lee-interviewee I, 2020)
I was caught smoking heroin on H East Road (June 2019). My body is so terrible, and I have a lung obstruction. Still, because of serious illness (a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with acute onset, lung infection), Xiamen Compulsory Drug Institution (CDI) did not accept me, and I am still rehabilitating in the community (Xin-interviewee B, 2019).
Lee believed that traditional PWUD and new PWUD (totally a political division) are very different. Their degree of pathology is different, and the evaluation of Medicalization expertise is also discrepant. Traditional PWUD are physically dependent and difficult to control themselves. As long as they are not involved in criminal acts such as drug trafficking, the CAG and Compulsory Drug Institution (CDI) will help them quit the addiction. This process is also a consideration of physical health. However, it is interesting that CDI did not dare to contain Xin, who has a very high frequency of relapse and a history of heroin use for nearly 20 years. Because Xin recently suffered from a relatively severe disease (obstructive pulmonary disease), government agencies did not welcome him. They do not want PWUD to stay in institutions with risk of death, so in the end, the police asked Xin to continue drug rehabilitation in the community and called “it is a patients' right.” The arbitrary nature of law enforcement is particularly prominent in this case.
In contrast, if they are not excessive use, new-PWUD will, at most, do some administrative detention. These people are mentally relaxed, and when they wake up, they do not have too much material dependence and could recovery by themselves.
In an interview with a member of CAG, Huang mentioned Xin and the leader of local NCO Lee's verbal expression, Huang could not understand:
For the sake of safety, aren't PWUD just offenders? They have broken the law. I can admit that they are not criminals, but only drug trafficking can lead to drug trafficking, and drug trafficking can promote more using drug. They are essential consumers in the drug trafficking chain. It can be said that they are not criminals for not participating in drug trafficking, but they are also breaking the law. And if my neighbor is a drug addict, I will avoid him unconsciously. I don't know when he will suddenly hurt the people around him. Discrimination is not necessarily accurate, but rejection will occur. It is my self-protection!! (Huang-interviewee H, 2019).
Huang presented the real thoughts of some members of the CAG. Although their work helps PWUD achieve social integration in drug rehabilitation, they are also very alert to the potential destructive power of PWUD to order and other citizens' safety. Their surveillance, to a certain extent, the job must be able to predict and evaluate whether a sure addict will generate potential damage into action. So CAG members treat PWUD as deviants, those who need supervision and help.
"We have to protect the safety of the residents in our jurisdiction. Safety is always the first and professional task. We are worried that PWUD will gather crowds to relapse and sell drugs in private. It is all illegal. The raids are also for their good, especially the constant those who have relapsed (those) cannot be controlled by themselves. We also gave them an occasional vigilance. We will think more about them before relapse” (Police Officer PH-interviewee J, 2019).
The police station and the policeman treat PWUD as potential risk-takers of public order. They believe that the life trajectory of PWUD is also an uncertain factor that affects the safety of living spaces. When the public and private balances and interests are in harmony, the grassroots workers in police stations and compulsory drug rehabilitation centers all expressed an attitude of "no tolerance." Putting PWUD within a strict enforcement framework is the safest strategy.
4.1.3. Summary: Multiple governance and identity dilemma
NCO is relatively mediocre, which is mainly responsible for drug control and crime-fighting. It tends to treat PWUD as prospective citizens and its main work philosophy is to guide all citizens to participate in drug rehabilitation and improve the transformation mechanism for prospective citizens. On the one hand, it promotes and educates drug knowledge and guides ordinary citizens to realize the harm of drugs, consciously manage physical health; on the other hand, in drug rehabilitation, NCO urges PWUD to get rid of addiction through risk ratings.
The main jurisdiction of the Police Station is to control and prevent PWUD’s relapse and risky behaviors through urinalysis, hair testing, and unannounced visits. The main work concept is to maintain "society safe," which means controlling them in the jurisdiction to avoid the spread of drugs and other illegal activities. Therefore, PWUD are regarded as potential risk-takers of public security.
CAG needs to conduct micro-day-to-day interactions, and they integrate assistance, education, and supervision. Although the CAG also collect some needs from PWUD and provide corresponding services, such as docking vocational training, temporary work resource links, etc. The task of notifying the urine test once a month obscures the special nature of the help, support, and education of the CAG team. Instead, it also emphasizes that CAG members are alert to the risky behaviors of PWUD. PWUD are regarded as a group that needs daily supervision at this level, not the object of being helped and taught.
As a result, the imaginary of different executive bodies (NCO, police station, CAG) have formed multiple governance practices in drug rehabilitation management. And the multiple governance in drug rehabilitation have created the identity dilemma of the PWUD in action——multiple and incomplete identities. Multiplicity is manifested that the national drug policy and law, and management departments have given PWUD multiple and contradictory identities. This split identity makes it impossible for users to rely entirely on laws and policies to implement their obligations and rights and difficulty maintaining identity recognition in each system stage. Among them, the differences within the agency department need to be more cautious. It can be expected that the identification of patients or offenders/deviants cannot inherit and implement quasi-citizens' screening function, nor can it subtly change the definition of criminals stigmatizing ‘substance users’ by the public (Zwick et al., 2020) (see Table 2).
Table 2. multiple governance and identity dilemma.
law enforcement
|
Specific content
|
Identity
|
Dilemma
|
Drug law and policy
|
the Drug Law and the Regulations.
|
Quasi-citizen
|
multiple and incomplete identities
|
National Agency
|
Narcotics Control Office (NCO)
Police Station
Community Assistance Group (CAG)
|
Patients
|
Deviants
|
Risk-takers
|
Incompleteness is manifested in two aspects: One is the limited acceptance by the general public of the civic status of PWUD. Drugs are closely connected with national security in modern Chinese history. The danger of drugs has been continuously strengthened and shaped in the story of modern colonial history. In the author's investigation, PWUD cannot be called "patients" or "deviant," nor even lawbreakers in the general sense, but "criminals" signals. This frequently appearing label does not come from the law, but it flashes in the community life and cultural life. The "drug use history" has become a sharp edge in the separation of personal social relations.
Second, incompleteness is also manifested in limited acceptance in professional employment. During the period of drug rehabilitation, PWUD are mainly engaged in some part-time jobs. During these three years, the local grassroots public security departments are not giving a non-criminal certificate, so PWUD take on higher occupations risk when facing work change or economy pressure.
Multiple agencies produce identity dilemmas. This unexpected consequence prevents PWUD from not only being unable to maintain the same identity recognition at different stages of the drug rehabilitation system but also unable to rely on anti-drug laws and policies to reintegrate into society and become ordinary people in the sense of daily life. So, how do PWUD recognize their identity dilemma? How do they understand and deal with dilemma to live comfortably?
4.2. PWUD’s elf-management strategies
4.2.1. Perception of identity discrimination in PWUD
When shifting from the perspective of structural analysis to the discussion of actors, the most important thing is to understand the cognitive differences between the role of the analyst and the addicts themselves. As Lan (2011) said, “Under the long-term acceptance of state agency authoritative leadership and governance, I inevitably form an epistemological perspective and interactive mode of observation and understanding.” We need to change our position from a speculator to a drug addict perspective.
In the process of discussing the anti-drug social plan and drug rehabilitation management methods from a structural perspective, It explains the identity dilemma that has been produced from the establishment of the government anti-drug project to the continuous development (time dimension, local difference) that is not conducive to the rehabilitation and re-citizenship of PWUD. However, actors who have been in the grassroots drug rehabilitation stage for a long time do not have historical and expansive perspectives and thinking about the identity discrimination and difficult life they have suffered. When they perceive and understand their situation, they will base it on reality. Specific communication subjects in life, or stress events, make simple judgments and general impressions. What dominates them to form this relatively narrow cognition is often the sudden strengthening of emotions at a certain moment.
PWUD limited perception of their hardship is mainly aimed at a few specific subjects with a high frequency of contact in daily life: police, social workers, community workers, and other citizens. The interpretation of these role management methods in previous article conforms to the image of PWUD in their lives. Therefore, from the perspective of the trust relationship, the trust of PWUD is roughly presented as: “NFO > CAG > police station” of course, this kind of trust performance is not a fixed pattern. The occurrence of conflicts and strong emotional expressions will always affect the trust situation. PWUD develop a flow of cognition and trust in other subjects, which forms their interpretation of their identity dilemma. However, the discomfort of fragmented and different identities is difficult to coordinate and self-consistent.
4.2.2. Self-management strategies
In order to cope with the police law enforcement, frequent urine examinations, and daily supervision of CAG in daily life, avoid the repeated expression and memory reappearance of drug use experience, and avoid the obstacles and negative effects of drug rehabilitation on life. Combining their limited resources, PWUD have developed unique identity management strategies from the perspective of social space, time, and resources, to break through the identity dilemma and develop a more "dignified" and "resourced" social life.
A. Spatial isolation: Fleeing from one another in urban communities
The Drug Law and the Regulations stipulate PWUD’s mobility during detoxification. If they leave the city (where they registered), they need to use their ID cards to "register" in the community. Only then will they be allowed to take long-distance transport and book hotels. The digital information network unreservedly show whether PWUD are in detoxification period.
When I went to Fuzhou to visit relatives, I had to register the type of case, the reform through labor, the handling unit, and my family information. Who is my wife? My phone call number? Although I was issued this certificate, the local police station took me for a urine test the first day I stayed in the hotel. (Feng -interviewee A, 2019)
Internal-city mobility is often unrestricted. However, compared with the restrictions on outbound movement, there is a risk of personal information exposure. Even in an interview with Huang, she mentioned that she had only recently obtained the contact information of a PWUD who had been in the CAG for two years and learning that this user had other residences.
Now there are only two people in my family, me and my father, and everyone else goes to seek refuge with my uncle. Because what I did before was so disappointing, my uncle lost trust in me, and now I am not allowed to seek refuge... (community). They call me once a month. I will not force an interview on the phone. Before, I lived with my girlfriend in Nanping city (Min-interviewee E, 2019).
I worked in Zhangzhou city before, and the community didn't care about it... This time I came out of the CDI. I might not go home and live with my aunt. My aunt's son is still willing to take care of me (Song-interviewee C, 2019).
Users show two modes of hidden movement in the city: One is the "smuggling" mode. Take Min as a representative, he secretly left the registered address, did not take the initiative to inform the community whereabouts, and more mind the community inquire about his specific situation. Communication targets of CAG only achieving through short telephone contact. Next, The "exile" model, represented by Song, didn’t mind the community asking about the current address because it had many mobile places. CAG also cannot know the movement and residential address.
These two modes of concealment and mobility often do not conflict. The "smuggling" mode focuses on the concealment of the outward destination. It is easy to fabricate the help and education group's requirements if it is a short trip. The "exile" mode emphasizes the concealment of real daily life places to avoid sudden police random urine tests or door-to-door visits with members of the CAG. They (CAG and the Police) have caused damage to personal and neighbor relationships because they'll be exposed to their neighbors as PWUD. The neighbors would get very tired of them. And these two modes can be flexibly switched at any time depending on the action content of the CAG.
The two models above reflect a common approach to identity conflict: the concealment of stigmatized or marginalized identities is achieved through hidden flows in space. They are also separated from the accessible surveillance space of CAG and police to a certain extent. Space isolation makes the identity defined by CAG and police for users stuck in the community, and completely unfamiliar social relationships and impressions in the new space can be reshaped and presented. To a certain extent, this is a very radical way of handling identity. The radical manifests are in a sudden change in space or a specific intended change in stigmatized identities and re-operate. It is also a processing method that requires great courage.
It is necessary to abandon the original living space's resources and relationships. It is also essential to carefully maintain the new space's identity from being exposed by digital and information networks. When Min lived in his uncle’s house to start a new life, his uncle was disgusted with him because of improper management, repeated relapses, and theft. Re-operating the legal identity image is the goal of spatial isolation. Once it fails, it can only be re-operated in another area.
B. Broke: abandon the past and look forward to relieving
In addition to managing identity conflicts in a spatially isolated manner, the participants also presented a way of mitigating identity conflicts at the temporal level, striving to separate themselves from past using drug behaviors, shaping a new self.
Now I have no other plans. When the community rehabilitation is over, I will take another driver's license test, run a taxi, or be a Didi (private taxi company) driver... I live with my parents, and their pensions can support me partially. Don't worry about finding a job. Drug use ruined me. I used to be a bank clerk. It is impossible to go back to my life in the future, but if I want to start again, I can't get drugs (Song-interviewee C, 2020).
I don't want the police to come to my house suddenly to take urine samples. I have tried very hard to control and manage myself to remind myself of my past using drug and cherish the current life of family reunions. Still, every urine test reminds me of my past using drug behaviors. I can't do it without community rehabilitation. Let yourself start again (Wen-interviewee F, 2019).
Respondents in the narrative who showed a strong tendency to separate from past drug use behaviors are looking forward to the coming of relieving CAG and finishing drug rehabilitation. They imagine that without these dynamic controls, they will seal the past bad behavior from the time dimension and start a new life. Both Song and Wen hope that using drug is just an experience, which means use experience has little influence on their everyday life and relationships with their girlfriends and children.
Every contact of the CAG invisibly reminds them of various connections with past using drug experiences. The sudden urine test forced Wen to recall her past drug use experience. The more anxious is that Song does not know if he is in love or is preparing for other important life links when he next surprises his urine test. Thus the explanation does not end, and isolation from the past self is an imagination that is difficult to realize fully. The current break with past behavior is only an exploratory effort.
There is no way...I also thought about driving Didi and taxis before. If you have experience in drug use, you will find out they don’t provide chance for you. Except for part-time jobs in society, which one is better? Will not open the door for PWUD (Feng-interviewee A, 2019)
Feng presented his own experience. Isolation is only a temporary conservative strategy, social integration is not as simple as imagined. The public's understanding of the identity of PWUD will still lead to job discrimination.
Separation from past behavior is a virtual action, but it is unrealistic for individuals to want to ignore actions they have done in the past. Past life experience has been internalized in the individual's cognition and behavior habits. Isolating the past, looking forward to the future, and preserving the present can only be an individual's inner choice and attitude and cannot face the unity of the past, present, and future. They have never been able to face the dilemma of social integration and multiple identities, nor can they reconcile with the past self. Of course, this cognitive strategy of separating the past has relieved the pressure of identity dilemmas to a certain extent and provided the addicts with the motivation and inner strength to continue to persist.
C. Instrumental cooperation: Using identity to obtain resources
Compared with the previous two strategies, the separation and concealment of stigma in space and time, Instrumental cooperation has limited the spread of identity conflicts and focused on using the cognition of identity in different agents to achieve and realize beneficial interests through formal collaboration. Specifically, it can be manifested in three cases: receiving various subsidies, issuing a non-crime certificate, and cooperating with the police station to exchange urine tests for resources, like Min and Ping:
2008/5/22 sensitive glaucoma treatment application assistance; 2009/4/21 want to participate in methadone treatment; 2009/6/15 asked if I can help apply for the cost of methadone replacement treatment; 2009/10/14 take methadone invoice to apply for subsidies; 2009 /11/16 Take the methadone invoice to apply for subsidies; 2015/7/13 Min wants to apply for subsistence allowance again; 2018/7/25 Min hopes to apply for affordable housing; 2019/4/26 Min currently uses for subsistence allowance as a family household. Submit the approval materials; 2019/5/9 Min's family subsistence allowance is approved; the 2019/12/19 roll to the security room number can get a two-bedroom and one-living house (Min's personal file).
I had received a community subsidy for breast cancer before, and my brother (Min) also got money to treat glaucoma. The community asked me, the Guangming Fund, to reimburse the cost. Later, we went to the community if we had a problem. They are more reliable. The sewer was a bit blocked last week, and I also asked the city to solve it (Ping-interviewee D, 2020).
Since 2008, Min has realized that drug use experience and offenders' and patients' identities can help him more easily obtain various government and social resources linked to the CAG. The most prominent feature of these resources is that Min is not clear and difficult to access. During the whole process, Min only needs always to show a firm attitude towards drug treatment. Then he will give difficulties and needs a priority. For example, the affordable housing policy is a policy for urban residents with low incomes who cannot afford to buy a house. However, users themselves are more likely to be packaged into low-level people who urgently need affordable housing. Therefore, Min and Ping applied for the minimum guarantee fund faster, applied for affordable housing in December, and got a two-bedroom and one-living room.
I remember that Policeman Chen from the police station gave Liu, who had already been expatriated, a non-criminal record and could open it. Liu's son served as a soldier, and his family needs a certification to prove the innocent background. Liu came to the police station to ask Chen, and Chen gave a non-criminal certificate before Liu's son could join the army. Chen regretted it. All ex-posters can open a non-criminal record or certification, but the risks need to be borne by policeman Chen himself, and the pressure is immense (Huang-interviewee H, 2019).
In another case, to help his children serve as soldiers, Liu went to the police station and asked for a non-criminal certificate, proving that Liu's family identity is innocent to the government auditors.
A non-criminal certificate is a kind of certification material to show the legalization of citizenship. It also means that users should complete community drug rehabilitation, and detoxification will not leave a record in the public security organs, which further proves that the identity of criminals considered by society is misunderstood and distorted. However, the general security organs are unwilling to issue a non-criminal certificate for PWUD. After all, users are different from ordinary law-abiding citizens. They are still a factor of insecurity in real society. If a non-criminal certificate is issued, the local public security agency must guarantee that the person will not violate law or discipline. However, as far as the general security agency is concerned, it is its fundamental responsibility to ensure local security. Various task indicators do not indicate whether it is feasible to issue a non-criminal certificate. That makes the police themselves bear the later risks of political behavior and rules, which police officers mainly regretted.
Xin, nearly 60 years old, has a severe illness and can only detoxify in the community. During the 2020 epidemic, he lost contact for almost three months. Accounting for Xin's past using drug history, the CAG believes that he has relapsed. However, in May, Xin took the initiative to contact the community anti-drug committee to indicate that he was willing to undergo a urine test, showing that he could not be arrested immediately. The community must assist in applying for a retirement pension. What is even more paradoxical is that the community and the police agreed to his request because of bureaucratic management's complexity. If Xin is caught by another police station and filed a case, the paperwork and handover work between them and other agencies will be very tedious and troublesome. To avoid extra work brought by the bureaucracy, the local community and the police station agreed to Xin's terms. At the end of May, the CAG accompanied him for a urine test. When leaving the police station, I observed:
Turning to the alley, Xin was here, still a little rickety, rubbing his hands slightly faster, his face calm. A middle-aged man in white is standing nearby smoking a cigarette. "Xin?! Why are you here?" "...we are...waiting for someone" Xin's voice was calm. "Didn't you go to take a picture?" "I'm from the police station" The middle-aged man in white, throwing away his cigarette butt, immediately stopped our inquiry."Then let's go first." The anti-drug station workers continued to walk and "leave here first" I couldn't help but feel the urge to run away. When I came to the alley, I turned my head back, and a group of people gathered in front of Xin like a swarm of people (observing at the police station, 2020.5)
"They have to make up the capture process. If other police stations catch them, they still need to make up various procedures" (Huang-interviewee H, 2019)
Xin's interaction with the police station is an exchange logic. He cooperated with the police to complete the arrest in exchange for promises such as urine testing done by the law [6], letting him go home that day, and the community as soon as possible to assist in applying for a pension. Further study reveals that this real-time interactive performance is based on the comprehensive understanding of both parties' identities for drug use. Xin continued to talk about the dilemma of his identity as a patient and a lawbreaker, prompting the police station to be unable to enter the camp of severe illnesses. The police station understood that Xin's age and physical condition would not negatively impact his social impact even if he relapsed, so he asked Xin to complete the arrest plan and complete the case filing.
Instrumental cooperation does not mean acceptance or active integration. It is not about accommodating multiple identities into a single positive identity but strategically making full use of the advantages and disadvantages of different identities in interacting with CAG and social citizens to present a more suitable identity. As a result, instrumentality is more directed towards focusing on the assembly of multiple identities to reflect conflict and exerts creativity.
The most prominent commonality of the three strategies for managing identity conflicts is that the management techniques for drug problems have been transferred to individuals who demand the freedom to carry out their lives (Pereira et al., 2020). PWUD need to self-determine and manage identity conflicts and risks. They face comprehensive and complex multiple identities compared to the NCO and CAG. Multiple identities conflict inevitably maintains a certain high relapse rate, and the government's security and crime control goals, therefore, having to pay a higher political price (Garland, 1996).
For this reason, the strategies of concealed mobility of PWUD (spatial isolation), disconnection from the past (temporal isolation), and instrumental use of identity can help enrich the information at the actor level under the operation of political behavior and show the process and purpose of self-management that individuals reassemble multiple identities and creativity. The drug rehabilitation policy is a goal-oriented ideal product of dominating the culture and able to absorb the improper operation of political behavior from marginal groups' real plight and life, thereby making up for the coexistence of multiple logics of the law and multiple inconsistent governance.
More importantly, these three differentiating strategies are not only simply classified as ideal types. In the process of being narrated and performed recurrently, PWUD have been repressed and constrained for a long time, constantly and actively re-adjusting and sticking to them together. Depoliticized expression is the characteristic of this process rather than the political characteristics of structural shaping.