Drug subcultures may be seen as groups of people loosely united by a common understanding of the meaning and value (good or otherwise) of the incorporation into life of the drug in question. Such unity can take many forms, from friends who take the drug together, possibly obeying certain rules of etiquette, to full-scale political movements for the reform of drug laws. The sum of these parts can be considered an individual drug's "culture".
It should be noted that there are multiple drug subcultures based on the use of different drugs - the culture surrounding cannabis, for example, is very different from that of heroin, due to the different sort of experiences and problems the drugs cause.
The drug users' equivalent of the peasants' "universal reputation for cunning", (11) is portrayed in terms such as "extremely egoistic cannibals" who "lie, steal and manipulate their fellow human beings" due to a "junkie syndrome".
Culture is probably more veraciously envisioned as a continuity, a flow from past to future, in which the labels survival and progress represent reversed positions which depend on availability (see figure 18.3).
The drug is not the instrumental imperative (14) of the house culture, but merely an adjunct in a rather hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and social identity.
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