This research considers the key actors and principles constituting the DIY scene in St. Petersburg. It traces the importance of independent music production, anti-commercialisation, anticonsumerism and creative self-realisation to the scene. It pays particular attention to the exploration of the diversity of young people involved in DIY scenes in the city and the evidence of differing narratives of DIY culture between musicians and activists within it.

In Russian academic literature, drug use is generally approached as a “social problem” that can be “resolved” through the curbing of the supply of drugs and the punishment of drug users and traders. This approach is rooted in understandings drug use as an “escape” from harsh social reality (often linked to economic transformation and moral confusion following the collapse of the Soviet Union). The research from this case study in Sochi – a city in which young people have relatively good economic and cultural opportunities – undermines a key argument underpinning this problematising discourse. The material suggests, on the contrary, that drugs – especially “recreational drugs” – are becoming an increasingly routine (“normal”) part of the youth cultural environment.

The aim of the research has been to pay attention to two aspects concerning recreational cannabis use in Estonia – firstly, how young recreational drug users diminish and deal with the risks of cannabis use and, secondly, how the gender order and recreational drug use are related to each other. Cannabis has spread from the capital of Estonia and become part of the “mainstream” youth culture. Informal social networks are used for selling the drug. Smoking and dealing in cannabis is common for young people, and even non-smokers accept it. Cannabis use is considered to be everyone’s free choice and seen as a “natural” drug which is not as harmful as synthetic drugs are. The aim of the research has been to investigate what kinds of social sanctions and other control mechanisms (extrinsic and intrinsic) regulate cannabis use, and the risks of diminished health – both short-term and long term – which the young recreational cannabis users have experienced. In analysing the gender order of drug use, we performed a comparative study analysing the differences between gender order and drug use in two different countries – Estonia and Russia. Different roles, responsibilities, activities and contributions of women and men are expected, allowed and encouraged in relation to different drug use contexts and countries. In this comparative study, we paid attention to many aspects concerning gender order and drug use such as the initiation to and context of drug use, hierarchy, norms and frequency and the amounts and types of drugs used in these two countries. The analysis is based on 30 open-ended interviews with cannabis users aged 16-20 conducted in Autumn 2006 under the auspices of the SAL project in Estonia. Informants were reached employing the snowball method. For the analysis of the comparative study with Russia, we used 11 interviews and field notes on Russian drug users carried out by Russian researcher, Irina Kosterina, in the framework of the SAL project in Russia.