Dr Emma Davies is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology, Social Work and Public Health at Oxford Brookes University. In this article, she provides some reflections on alcohol free events, such as sober raves, as a topic for research in drug and alcohol misuse.
Background
Strategies for reducing drug and alcohol misuse tend to focus on encouraging people to either stop or cut down in order to reduce harms. But substance use is often driven by the pursuit of pleasure, rather than by the avoidance of harm (Global Drug Survey, 2015; Hutton, 2012), and drugs and alcohol are present in many social situations. People are very often already aware of the risks associated with their behaviour, but on balance they decide it is worth the risk to have a good time. Furthermore, and especially in social situations where alcohol is flowing, people’s good intentions often fail to map onto their behaviours (Sheeran, 2002).