Coming out of the closet : Risk management strategies of illegal cannabis growers

Potter, Gary and Klein, Axel (2020) Coming out of the closet : Risk management strategies of illegal cannabis growers. In: Risk and Substance Use : Framing Dangerous People and Dangerous Places. Routledge Studies in the Sociology of Health and Illness . Routledge, London, pp. 201-221. ISBN 9781138491243

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Abstract

This chapter explores the ways in which growers manage the risk of detection against the background discourse of cannabis growing as a harmful activity. Growers take practical steps to reduce the chance of being discovered and manage social relationships to reduce the likelihood that their activities are reported by people who do know about them. Many also engage in forms of activism aimed at changing the way their activities are perceived by society, promoting homegrown cannabis as undermining the ‘real criminals’ who profit from prohibition and reducing the harms associated with the illegal cannabis market.