Background: Surfacing values underpinning drug policymaking has been gaining traction as a strategy to understand and possibly resolve impasse. Documents have an important role in shaping drug policy debates, and as such are important data for understanding what is significant about values in policy.
Objectives: This research examined how values emerge and are used in the report of The Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug ‘Ice’ held in NSW, Australia (2018-2020). The objectives were two-fold: to understand if and how values are present in policy documents, using the values theory developed by Shalom H. Schwartz; and how values in documents are present and mobilised in drug policy debates.
Methods: This research used documentary analysis as the primary qualitative method. Data was coded using reflexive thematic analysis.
Results: Values are present in the Ice Inquiry report, primarily security and universalism values. Schwartz’ values theory is useful as a shared vocabulary and heuristic device in documentary analysis. However, there are shortfalls in how his individual and cultural theories apply to documents, including individual interpretations of values meaning, underlying motivations, and the authorship of policy documents. Policy documents can reveal conflicting values, and these should be interpreted through a broader understanding of the strategic utilisation of values in the document’s content, production, and use.
Implications: Analysing documents is useful for understanding the significance of values in drug policy debates. Attention to the political, value-laden field of engagement is vital to understand what values do in policy.