THE CONSTRUCTION OF SELF-LEGITIMACY AMONG DRUG DETECTIVES
Drug detectives are the guardians of the drug prohibition policy and the question is raised to what extent, and on what basis, drug detectives feel their power is morally correct. Ethnographic fieldwork, which included 40 epistemic- confrontational interviews, was carried out over 10 months in two cities in Belgium among drug detectives operating at street level and in local drug investigation units. The study finds that drug detectives derive their self- legitimacy primarily from subjectivation in the eradicative drug discourse and from endogenous elements such as being good at your ‘craft’ and seeking validation of this from colleagues. Furthermore, drug detectives’ underlying motivation is rarely fuelled by a belief in the effectiveness of their actions in reducing drug use or selling, but by the conviction that they have to take action because ‘otherwise things would get out of hand’. Building on these results, several soci-etal and political implications are offered.