‘ E’ is for enterprise: Middle level drug markets in ecstasy and stimulants

This article is derived from a study of ‘middle-market’ drug distribution funded by the Home Office. It involved prison interviews with middle and upper level drug dealers, and interviews with a range of enforcement personnel. The focus of the article is middle level drug markets in Ecstasy and stimulant drugs such as amphetamine and cocaine. A number of case studies are used to illustrate the varying kinds of brokerage, go-between and ‘middle-man’ functions that link together the different levels of the stimulant drug market, to supply the needs of consumers within the burgeoning night-time economy. Some of these individuals sit just above the retail level supplying retail level dealers who are in turn selling direct to consumers; others involve serious crime networks that control regional and cross-regional distribution systems within the UK, and transport routes that facilitate importation from the Netherlands.     

How Do Students Source and Supply Drugs? Characteristics of the University Illegal Drug Trade

Background: It is widely known that a proportion of university students use drugs. However, much less is known about how they source and supply their drugs. Objectives: In this article, we investigate student drug trading activity, including how they obtained their drugs, whether they sold drugs, and the extent to which their drug trading might be described as a form of “social supply”. Methods: A survey was conducted of all students across seven of the nine universities of Wales. In total, 7855 students submitted a questionnaire and 1877 of these reported drug use in the current academic year. All students who reported using one or more illegal drugs in the current academic year were asked how they obtained their drugs, how they funded their drug use, whether they had sold, traded or given away illegal drugs, along with their motives for drug trading. Results: The results showed that about half of users obtained drugs solely from friends and associates and one-fifth obtained them solely from external dealers. One-quarter used friends and associates as well as external markets. In many cases, supplying drugs amounted to sharing them or giving them away. However, over one-third of students said that they had sold drugs. Conclusions: Overall, the methods of sourcing and supplying drug among university students shares features of both “social supply” and “traditional” drug markets. We conclude that the student drug market investigated is best described as a “hybrid” combination of both.     

Retail price as an outcome measure for the effectiveness of drug law enforcement

One outcome measure of law enforcement effectiveness is the reduction in drug consumption which occurs as a result of law enforcement interventions. A theoretical relationship between drug consumption and retail price has promoted the use of retail price as a surrogate measure for consumption. In the current article, retail price is examined as a potential outcome measure for the effectiveness of law enforcement.The predictions regarding the relationship between law enforcement intensity and price are only partially supported by research. Explanations for the disconnect between the drug law enforcement activity and retail price include: rapid adaptation by market players, enforcement swamping, assumptions of rational actors, short-run versus long-run effects, structure of the illicit market, simultaneous changes that affect price in perverse ways, the role of violence in markets, and data limitations. Researchers who use retail price as an outcome measure need to take into account the complex relationship between drug law enforcement interventions and the retail price of illicit drugs. Viable outcome measures which can be used as complements to retail price are worth investigation.     

Crime displacement in digital drug markets

Background Crackdowns on urban sites with concentrated criminal activity are sometimes followed by geographical relocation of crime. Is this also the case in cyberspace, where illegal websites and online networks can be wiped clean, but also quickly rebuilt and replaced on new servers and URLs?Methods I address this question in three steps. First, I measure MDMA trade in a large digital market for drugs, before and after the arrest of a leading MDMA seller in the same market. Second, I count the number of available digital drug markets and vendor shops in the period February 2014–June 2018, to see if websites closed by police were replaced by new ones. Third, I track the digital movement and trading activities of individual drug sellers, before and after law enforcement shut down two large markets.Results After police arrested a leading MDMA seller, other MDMA sellers filled most – but not all – of the gap. A major law enforcement crackdown reduced the number of available markets, but new ones were created, and market counts eventually surpassed the previous peak. When law enforcement shut down two big markets, many of the sellers relocated to other e-commerce sites and continued high-earning operations there.Conclusion Arrests and market closures redirect digital drug trade to other sellers and markets. Hot spot policing in cyberspace might produce temporary results, but is arguably ineffective in the long run, as actors use information and communication technology’s unique capacities to reorganize.     

Understanding Australian methylamphetamine drug markets through relational,temporal and spatial analyses

In the area of illicit drugs, forensic case data have proven effective at detecting links between seizures and providing greater insights into illicit drug markets. This research explored the application of mathematical and statistical techniques to several chemical profiles of Australian methylamphetamine seizures. The main aim was to create and deliver a method that would expand the use of illicit drug profiling for strategic intelligence purposes, contributing to the fight against illicit drug trafficking. The use of comparison metrics and clustering analysis to determine links between existing illicit drug specimens and subsequent new specimens was evaluated and automated. Relational, temporal and spatial analyses were subsequently used to gain an insight into illicit drug markets. Relational analysis identified clusters of seizures central to the network. Temporal analysis then provided insights into the behaviour of distribution markets, specifically the emergence and extinction of certain clusters of seizures over time. Spatial analysis aided the understanding of the inter-jurisdictional nature of illicit drug markets. These analyses allowed for the generation of strategic intelligence relating to when and where the Australian methylamphetamine illicit drug market was the most active. Additionally, the strategic level trends identified clusters of seizures that were worth investigating further. These clusters were explored through a case study, which exploited additional chemical profiling data to provide drug market knowledge at an operational level. In turn, the intelligence produced at various levels could allow relevant law enforcement agencies to take necessary measures in disrupting markets.     

Ring and bring drug services: Delivery dealing and the social life of a drug phone

BackgroundIllegal drug dealers no longer compete for customers only through the quality of their products, but also in convenience and speed of delivery. This article investigates "ring and bring" drug dealing, and argues that a focus on dealers' use of mobile phones is useful for exploring current changes within retail level drug markets.MethodsThe article is based on 21 face-to-face in-depth interviews with active drug dealers in Denmark all of whom were involved in the delivery of drugs (mainly cannabis and cocaine) often to buyers' homes.ResultsContrary to studies emphasising how drug dealers often take up new communication technologies with enthusiasm, the dealers in this study displayed a technological conservatist stance. Moreover, mobile phones have become key to dealers' construction of in-group hierarchies, and have led to retail level drug selling becoming more flexible, individualised and more of a service on par with other services in the consumer society. Finally, the increasing use of mobile phones has also created a situation where portfolios of drug customers, held on cell phone SIM cards, are today traded and sold alongside other commodities in the drug economy.ConclusionWe show how a social constructivist approach to technology can provide a more detailed and nuanced account of the socio-technical ensemble and the meaning-making processes giving shape to retail level "delivery dealing."     

Patterns of Drug Distribution: Implications and Issues

This article delineates various patterns of illicit sales of drugs, especially at the retail (and near-retail) level, addressing a variety of central issues about drug sales and distribution documented during the past 30 years, including: a) the links between drug consumption and drug distribution activities; b) the various distribution roles; c) various levels of the distribution hierarchy; d) types of retail and wholesale markets; e) the association of drug distribution with nondrug associated criminality and violence. The article also will address the implications of drug distribution: whether various public policies such as supply reduction and source interdiction affect illicit drug markets, and how policing strategies and various law enforcement strategies can influence the involvement of individual participation in drug distribution activities. The overlooked contribution of treatment for “drug abuse” to reducing drug sales and distribution activities also will be considered as will other critical unresolved issues.     

The cocaine and heroin markets in the era of globalisation and drug reduction policies

BackgroundDespite the large volume of public effort devoted to restrain drug supply and the growing attention given to drug demand reduction policies, the use of cocaine and heroin remains steady. Furthermore, retail drug prices have fallen significantly in Europe and the US. This puzzling evidence leads us to develop a model aiming at systematically analysing illicit drug markets.MethodsWe model the markets of cocaine and heroin from production to the final retail markets. One novelty of the analysis consists in characterising the retail market as a monopolistic competitive one. Then, upper level dealers have some market power in the retail market. This allows them to charge a markup and to earn extra profits. These extra profits attract newcomers so that profits tend to fall over time.ResultsTheoretical model was used to analyse the effect of supply containment policies on the retail market, the producer market and the export–import business. This introduces the discussion of the impact of demand reduction policies on the high level traffickers’ profit. Finally, globalisation enters in the model.ConclusionsLaw enforcement measures increase the risk premia received by the lower and higher level traffickers. Consequently, trafficking intermediation margins tend to increase. However, globalisation has the opposite effect. It lowers intermediation margins and, then, pushes retail prices down, thereby stimulating consumption. In doing so, globalisation offsets the effects of supply containment policies. Finally, we discuss how the effectiveness of supply containment policies can be enhanced by combining them with demand reduction policies.     

Delivery dilemmas: How drug cryptomarket users identify and seek to reduce their risk of detection by law enforcement

BackgroundCryptomarkets represent an important drug market innovation by bringing buyers and sellers of illegal drugs together in a ‘hidden’ yet public online marketplace. We ask: How do cryptomarket drug sellers and buyers perceive the risks of detection and arrest, and attempt to limit them?MethodsWe analyse selected texts produced by vendors operating on the first major drug cryptomarket, Silk Road (N = 600) alongside data extracted from the marketplace discussion forum that include buyer perspectives. We apply Fader’s (2016) framework for understanding how drug dealers operating ‘offline’ attempt to reduce the risk of detection and arrest: visibility reduction, charge reduction and risk distribution.ResultsWe characterize drug transactions on cryptomarkets as ‘stretched’ across time, virtual and physical space, and handlers, changing the location and nature of risks faced by cryptomarket users. The key locations of risk of detection and arrest by law enforcement were found in ‘offline’ activities of cryptomarket vendors (packaging and delivery drop-offs) and buyers (receiving deliveries). Strategies in response involved either creating or disrupting routine activities in line with a non-offending identity. Use of encrypted communication was seen as ‘good practice’ but often not employed. ‘Drop shipping’ allowed some Silk Road vendors to sell illegal drugs without the necessity of handling them.ConclusionSilk Road participants neither viewed themselves as immune to, nor passively accepting of, the risk of detection and arrest. Rational choice theorists have viewed offending decisions as constrained by limited access to relevant information. Cryptomarkets as ‘illicit capital’ sharing communities provide expanded and low-cost access to information enabling drug market participants to make more accurate assessments of the risk of apprehension. The abundance of drug market intelligence available to those on both sides of the law may function to speed up innovation in illegal drug markets, as well as necessitate and facilitate the development of law enforcement responses.     

CONTROLLING AND POLICING SUBSTANCE USE(RS)*

Controlling drug use—a dynamic, global, politicalized process—is reviewed in terms of selected types of drugs, “natural levels” of drug demand and use, drug markets and the drug market environment, types of traffickers, illicit drug trade profits, approaches to drug control (“War on Drugs”, “Zero Tolerance” programs and policies, “normalizing” and legalizing selected drugs), including UN's then relatively recent “Balanced Approach” and facets of drug law enforcement (drug prices and purity levels and values of drug seizures), including various rarely noted benefits to intervention programs and control agents. Unresolved issues and needed “tools” are noted while considering the implications of the first UN's World Drug Report data.     

“There's that many people selling it”: Exploring the nature,organisation and maintenance of prison drug markets in England

Aims: To explore the nature, organisation and maintenance of drug markets within male prisons in England from the perspective of drug users, considering the role of policy and practice in shaping the markets. Methods: Thirty in-depth qualitative interviews with former male prisoners were analysed using a Framework approach. Findings: Prison drug markets traditionally operated through “Established Enterprises,” sophisticated and business like ventures run by community drug dealers. Prisoners maintained the market by selling or delivering drugs or collecting payments and enforcing violence towards debtors. They were reimbursed for their “work” with money or drugs. Market competition was increasingly created by the concurrent existence of less formalised, more spontaneous markets through “Separate Suppliers,” where individual prisoners opportunistically sold illicit drugs, directly benefitting from the profit. Irrespective of provider, illicit drugs were commonly available within male prisons, although they were expensive, of poor quality and small deal sizes. Drugs had a pervasive and powerful influence on prison environments and were strongly linked to the threat and experience of violence. Conclusions: Two main types of drug markets operated alongside one another in male prisons in England. They operated flexibly, as prices, supply routes and payment methods quickly responded to changes in prison policy, prison drug prescribing, drug availability and prisoner demand.     

Sellers’ risk perceptions in public and private social media drug markets

IntroductionFrom the early use of pagers and cellular phones to the darknet and smartphones, technological developments have facilitated drug deals in various ways, especially by altering time and space boundaries. Traditional drug market literature theorises about how physical markets, within which sellers act according to their risk perceptions and motivation, are led by supply, demand, and enforcement. However, there is an almost absolute research gap in understanding how this relates to digital markets and social media markets in particular. It is expected that the plasticity of technology makes digital markets highly mouldable so that the sellers are able to shape markets according to their use.Research aimThe aim of the study is to describe and understand drug dealing on social media within the structure of existing markets. We aim to do so by analysing how drug sellers’ risk perceptions and motivations form and are formed by social media technology.MethodsWe conducted a three-month digital ethnographic study on Facebook and Instagram in the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), as well as 107 semi-structured qualitative interviews with sellers (2/3 of the sample) and buyers (1/3 of the sample) using online markets within the same countries.ResultsDrug dealing on social media varies according to the structure of the chosen media and users’ risk perceptions and motivations. Two market forms are suggested: 1) public digital markets (e.g., Facebook groups and Instagram) allow sellers to expand their customer lists, but the risk is quite high, while 2) private digital markets are based on one-on-one communication and demand greater knowledge but are perceived as more secure. Sellers choose which media to use and how to use them based on perceived risk and, therefore, have a significant impact on the formation of social media drug markets.     

Patterns of drug distribution: implications and issues

This article delineates various patterns of illicit sales of drugs, especially at the retail (and near-retail) level, addressing a variety of central issues about drug sales and distribution documented during the past 30 years. including: a) the links between drug consumption and drug distribution activities; b) the various distribution roles; c) various levels of the distribution hierarchy; d) types of retail and wholesale markets; e) the association of drug distribution with nondrug associated criminality and violence. The article also will address the implications of drug distribution: whether various public policies such as supply reduction and source interdiction affect illicit drug markets, and how policing strategies and various law enforcement strategies can influence the involvement of individual participation in drug distribution activities. The overlooked contribution of treatment for "drug abuse" to reducing drug sales and distribution activities also will be considered as will other critical unresolved issues.     

The public health and social impacts of drug market enforcement: A review of the evidence

The primary response to the harms associated with illicit injection drug use in most settings has involved intensifying law enforcement in an effort to limit the supply and use of drugs. Policing approaches have been increasingly applied within illicit drug markets since the 1980s despite limited scientific confirmation of their efficacy. On the contrary, a growing body of research indicates that these approaches have substantial potential to produce harmful health and social impacts, including disrupting the provision of health care to injection drug users (IDU), increasing risk behaviour associated with infectious disease transmission and overdose, and exposing previously unaffected communities to the harms associated illicit with drug use. There are, however, alternatives to traditional targeted enforcement approaches that may have substantially less potential for negative health and social consequences and greater potential for net community benefit. Some of these approaches involve modifying policing practices, fostering partnerships between policing and public health agencies, and developing systems to monitor policing practices. Other alternatives involve the provision of harm reduction services, such as safer injecting facilities, that help to minimize drug-related harms, and addiction treatment services which ultimately help to reduce the demand for illicit drugs.     

Community-level policy responses to state marijuana legalization in Washington State

BackgroundWashington State (WA) legalized a recreational marijuana market – including growing, processing and retail sales – through voter initiative 502 in November 2012. Legalized recreational marijuana retail sales began in July 2014.In response to state legalization of recreational marijuana, some cities and counties within the state have passed local ordinances that either further regulated marijuana markets, or banned them completely.The purpose of this study is to describe local-level marijuana regulations on recreational retail sales within the context of a state that had legalized a recreational marijuana market.MethodsMarijuana-related ordinances were collected from all 142 cities in the state with more than 3000 residents and from all 39 counties. Policies that were in place as of June 30, 2016 – two years after the state’s recreational market opening – to regulate recreational marijuana retail sales within communities were systematically coded.ResultsA total of 125 cities and 30 counties had passed local ordinances to address recreational marijuana retail sales. Multiple communities implemented retail market bans, including some temporary bans (moratoria) while studying whether to pursue other policy options. As of June 30, 2016, 30% of the state population lived in places that had temporarily or permanently banned retail sales. Communities most frequently enacted zoning policies explicitly regulating where marijuana businesses could be established. Other policies included in ordinances placed limits on business hours and distance requirements (buffers) between marijuana businesses and youth-related land use types or other sensitive areas.ConclusionsState legalization does not necessarily result in uniform community environments that regulate recreational marijuana markets. Local ordinances vary among communities within Washington following statewide legalization. Further study is needed to describe how such local policies affect variation in public health and social outcomes.     

Studying illicit drug markets: Disciplinary contributions

This paper provides a reflective account of the different disciplinary approaches to studying illicit drug markets. The term ‘drug market’ is used widely in illicit drug research, and means different things to different researchers. An economist may have a very specific view of what is meant by a drug market, and that will differ from one held by an ethnographer. The paper endeavours to describe and explain five different disciplinary approaches to studying drug markets—ethnographic and qualitative approaches; economic approaches; behavioural and psychological research; population-based and survey research; criminology and law enforcement evaluation. Each discipline has strengths and limitations. I do not argue for the supremacy of one approach, but that we need to appreciate the different approaches and develop better multi-disciplinary models.     

The Melding of Drug Markets in Houston After Katrina: Dealer and User Perspectives

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the majority of routine activities in New Orleans were disrupted, including the illegal drug market. The large-scale relocation of New Orleans evacuees (NOEs), including many illegal drug users and sellers, to host cities led to a need for new sources of illegal drugs. This need was quickly satisfied by two initially distinct drug markets (1) drug dealers from New Orleans who were themselves evacuees and (2) established drug dealers in the host cities. To be expected, the two markets did not operate indefinitely in parallel fashion. This paper describes the evolving, operational relationship between these two drug markets over time, with a focus on Houston. We analyze the reciprocal evolution of these two markets at two significant points in time: at the beginning of the relocation (2005) and two years later (2007). The overall trend is towards a melding of the two drug markets, as evidenced primarily by decreases in drug-related violence and the cross-fertilization of drug tastes. We describe the process by which the two drug markets are melded over time, in order to seek a better understanding of the social processes by which drug markets in general evolve.     

江西基层医疗卫生机构基本药物超国家限价销售情况调研

目的:为完善我国基本药物价格监控体系提供参考。方法:运用分层随机抽样法,于2011年5月对江西省40个县、市、区的基层医疗卫生机构和零售药店基本药物销售价格进行调查,所有数据录入Excel进行统计分析。结果:被调查地区存在超国家限价销售基本药物的情况。乡镇卫生院超限价销售比例高于村诊所和零售药店;超限价销售药品以化学药品多见,与药品类别关系不大;药品超限价销售的利润率以村诊所最高。结论:建议建立完善的基本药物销售监控体系,实时、准确监控基本药物销售价格。