The Illegal Drug Business
The Illegal Drug Business
This chapter provides a narrative review of the research literature on the illegal drug business in order to explore this subterranean world of work and play and paint a picture of what the police who deal with drugs are up against. Drawing on studies of drug markets, deviant lifestyles and the informal economy, it considers who drug dealers are, what motivates them to sell drugs, how dealing enterprises are organized, and how they perceive and manage risk. The analysis reveals that drug markets are largely shaped by the actors involved in the trade, the commodities being traded, and the socio-economic and cultural context of the market setting. The chapter concludes by considering some implications for the policing of drugs.
Keywords: deviant lifestyle, drug dealers, drug markets, informal economy, organized crime, risk management, violence
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .