This book examines the drug dealer in contemporary society from an interdisciplinary perspective and considers the increasingly blurred demarcation between illegitimate and legitimate drug markets. It explores the motives and drivers of those involved in drug supply and dispels common and stereotypical myths and misconceptions surrounding illegal drug markets and those who operate within them.
The drug dealer has become one of our foremost contemporary ‘folk devils’. Those who trade in substances prohibited by law are the subject of array of inaccurate myths and urban legends. Criminology has tended either to shoehorn drug dealers into neat typologies or portray them as ‘victims’ of an uncaring, predatory post-modern society. In reality, we know relatively little about the complex and diverse world of drug markets and our concentration inevitably falls on low-end ‘retail’ dealers who operate in the most visible sectors of the illegal economy. Bringing together an international group of experts, this book considers perspectives from around the world, including UK, USA, South America, Spain, India and Australia.
This book will be of interest to students and researchers across criminology, law, sociology, criminal justice and public health, and will be essential reading for those taking courses on drugs, drug markets and substance misuse.
Author(s): Tammy C. Ayres, Craig Ancrum
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 485
City: London
Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Contributors
Foreword
Introduction
Death Dealers and Pushers
The Changing Landscape
Drug Supply: Who Are the Criminals?
The Drug Apartheid
The Chapters of the Book
Some Final Thoughts
Notes
References
1 The Changing Shape of Illicit Drug Markets: Differentiation and Its Consequences for Understanding and Researching Illicit Drug Markets
Introduction
The Traditional Supply Landscape(s)
New Developing and Evolving Drug Supply Forms: From Pagers to Cryptomarkets – the Technological Revolution
Low Mobile Tech to Cryptomarkets (And Back Again…)
Social Media App Mediated Supply
Surface Web Mediated Supply–grey Market Supply and Facilitation Platforms
Social Supply, Minimally Commercial Supply, Exploitation and Vulnerability
County Lines Drug (Heroin/crack – Mostly) Supply
Cuckooing – a Particular Form of Criminal Exploitation
County Lines – Not Necessarily as Big as Deal as It Is Made Out to Be?
‘Knowing’ Drug Markets: Methodological Limitations, Trope, Stereotype and Researching the ‘Visible’
Drug Market Research and the Need for a Critical Lens That Neither Privileges the ‘Sexy’ Or the Assumed Nor Seeks to Aggregate Too Simply
Analysing and Reporting Research On Drug Markets
Conclusion
Notes
References
Part 1 The Usual Suspects: Traditional Forms of Drug Dealing
2 Drug Dealing With Amphetamines: From Over the Counter to Subcultural Thefts, Three Phases of Supply
Amphetamines: a Post-War Tonic
Grey Two Markets for Pep Pills
Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Act 1964: Policing Drug Users
Supplying Amphetamines After the Act to Prevent Misuse
Chemist Shop Burglary: a Job for an Insider
Chemist Burglars: Heroes Or Villains?
Commercialisation and Control: Effects On Demand and Supply of Amphetamines
Concluding Observations
References
3 Life Stories of Jamaican Men Involved in the UK Drugs Trade
Introduction
Jamaica Context
UK Context
The Respondents
Getting Involved in Selling Drugs
An Emerging Typology
Learning the Trade
Progressing a Career in Drugs Sales
Level of Involvement in the UK Drugs Trade
Making Money
Involvement in Other Crimes
Respondents’ Outcomes
Conclusion
Notes
References
4 Entrepreneurs: Just Taking Care of Business, the Drug Business
Introduction
Illicit Markets, Violence and Criminal Entrepreneurs
Money, Money, Money! the Root of Much Violence
Business as Usual: to Be Violent Or Not, That Is the Question?
Conspicuous Consumption and the Importance of Having It All
Conclusion
Notes
References
5 Heroin Users Who Deal: Getting High On Their Own Supply
A Common Practice?
‘The Best Hustle for a Narcotics Addict Is Selling Drugs, Especially Heroin’ (Waldorf 1973, P. 50)
‘Never Get High On Your Own Supply’
Responding to Challenges
Research Methodology
Making Ends Meet, Partying and Profit
‘A Bit of Luxury’ (Harry)
The More I Was Making, the More I Was Smoking (Harry)
I Certainly Was a Lot More Organised Than a Few of Them (Tony)
Conclusion
Notes
References
6 Just ‘Sorting’ Their Mates?: The Identities, Roles and Motivations of Social Suppliers
Background
Conceptualising Social Supply: Social Supply as ‘not-For-Profit’
Social Supply as ‘Friendly Business’
Methodology
Findings
Social Supply Demographics
Introducing the ‘Social Suppliers’: Typologies
The ‘Designated Buyer’
‘The Party Buyer’
‘The Entrepreneur’
Social Supply Motivations and Rationales
Economies of Scale – Incentivised Discounts and Buying ‘More for Less’
‘If I’ve Got the Hassle, I’ll Get the Benefit’: Hassle Tax
Drugs ‘For Free’
‘Doing Your Bit’ for the Group
Discussion
Conclusion
References
7 Women’s Role in Illegal Drug Production, Selling and Trafficking
The ‘Emancipation’ Thesis
Drug Cultivation, Processing and Manufacture
Women in the Street-Level Drug Trade
Gendered Motivations
Gendered Styles
Gendered Hierarchies/institutional Sexism
Women in the International Drug Trade: Drug Mules
Women in the International Drug Trade: Beyond Drug Mules
Conclusion
Future Research
Notes
References
8 Dealing Dope in the Dorms: College Drug Dealers and Anti-Targets in the U.S. War On Drugs
The Carnival Mirror, “Folk Devils,” and Anti-Targets
Dorm Room Dealers
The Pill Mill
Law-abiding Lawbreakers
Where Do We Go From Here?
Notes
References
9 ‘Steroid Holidays’ as Drug Tourism and Deviant Leisure
Introduction
Background: IPED Use, Supply, Culture and Context On the Gold Coast
Gym Culture as a Mainstream Culture
Normative IPED Supply
Drugs Tourism and Steroid Holidays
Steroid Holidays
Perceptions Of, and the Doing Of, Steroid Holidays By Gold Coast IPED Users
Ease of Access
A Training Or Party Holiday?
Steroid Holidays, Training Regimes and Health
Discussion
Conclusion
References
10 ‘Easy Money, Zero Risk’: The Role of British Seasonal Workers in the Ibiza Drug Market
Introduction
Methodology
Establishing Trust and Acceptance in Ibiza
Data Collection: Participant Observation
Data Collection: Semi-Structured Interviews
Data Collection: Documentary Photography
Ethical Issues: Consent
Ethical Issues: Researcher and Participant Safety
Findings and Discussion
Performative Labour as a Pillar of Disneyization
Disneyized Performative Labour in Ibiza
The Transition to Dealing
Conclusion
References
11 ‘Doubling Up’: Drug Dealing as a Profitable Side-Hustle
Introduction
Literature: the Profits and Sales Patterns of Drug Dealing
The Profitability of Commercially Orientated Retail-Level Drug Dealing
Sales Patterns: ‘Doubling Up’ and the Fungibility of the Drug Trade
The Study’s Methods
Findings
‘Doubling Up’ as the Dominant Work Practice
Work Patterns and Profits
Motivations for ‘Doubling Up’
‘Doubling Up’ in the Context of Academic Study
Conclusion
Notes
References
12 County Lines and the Transformation of Middle Drug Markets Within a Local Organised Crime Context
Introduction
Organised Crime and UK Drug Markets
The Context of New and Emerging Crack and Heroin Markets
The Context of Gangs and Organised Crime in London Liverpool and Manchester
English Gang Involvement in UK Markets
Reconstituted Middle Market Networks and Local Organised Crime
Changes in Supply and the Impact On Violence
Conclusions
References
13 Violence, Grime, Gangs and Drugs On the South Side of Birmingham
Introduction
Welcome to the South Side … of Birmingham
Making Anelpis? – Drugs, Crime and Survival Dealing On Britain’s Low-Income Estates
A Brief History of Grime, Drill and Drug Criminality in Birmingham
Bud, Booze, Beak, Bars and Banality – Contemporary Urban Violence Reconsidered
14 The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same: A Structuro-Generational Perspective of Gypsy Drug-Dealing Networks and Operations in Madrid, Spain
Introduction
Europe’s Largest Ghetto: Valdemingómez
The Historical Evolution of the La Cañada Real Galiana
The Plot Thickens…Madrid, Inequality and Space
The Gypsies: a History of Working On the Margins
Discussion
Notes
References
Part 2 New Drugs, New Technologies and New Perspectives
15 The Darknet, Bitcoins and the Role of the Internet in Drug Supply
Drug Dealing in a Time of Illegible Capitalism
Routes and Modes of Digital Dealing
The Dealer and User Community
Supply Chain Configuration
Innovation as a Source of Novelty and Harm
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
16 Cryptomarkets and Organised Crime: An Ethnographic Life History
Drug Supply Through the Ether
Disorganised Crime and Entrepreneurial Culture
Paul – From Pre-School to Post-Sentencing
Paul – Bail Hostels to Cryptomarkets
McDonaldization of Drug Distribution
Cryptomarkets and Disorganised Crime
Addressing Risk as a Mitigating Factor
Conclusion
Notes
References
17 Image and Performance-Enhancing Drug (IPED) Suppliers and Their Motives: Following the Evidence
Introduction
Methodology
Eligibility Criteria
Search Strategy
Analysis
Findings
IPED Sources and Their Suppliers
Motivations to Produce And/or Supply IPEDs
Discussion
Limitations
Conclusion
References
18 Illicit Pharmaceutical Supply: Moving Beyond Common Assumptions About Drugs and Drug Dealing
Introduction
Pharmaceutical Falsification: a Brief Outline
Historically Established Trade Routes
The Use of Special Economic Zones
Parallel Trade
The Channels and Networks of Production and Distribution
Zones of Production
Zones of Transit and Distribution
The Social Organisation
Conclusion
References
19 Drug Markets and Drug Dealing: Time to Move On
Introduction
The Drug Apartheid: How Did We End Up Here?
The Drug Apartheid: the Current Situation
Bolstering Apartheid? Academic Fetishism and Laudability in the Neoliberal University
Conclusion: Contesting Apartheid
Notes
References
20 Side Affects May Vary: Palliative Capitalism, Punitive Capitalism and US Consumer Culture
Bubbling to the Surface
Ask Your Doctor If Palliative Capitalism Is Right for You
To Pacify, Punish and Eliminate
Good for Something
Notes
References
Conclusion
Prohibition: Outdated, Failing and Harmful
Research, Knowledge and the Academy
The Blurring of Licit With Illicit: There Is No Business Like the Dope Business
The Demonic Drug Dealer and Their Motivation to Deal in Death
The Drug Apartheid
Some Final Thoughts
Notes
References
Index
