FFI have multiple individual and network characteristics that may increase their risk of injecting drugs. Interventions among NIUs to prevent transitions to injecting need to ascertain NIUs' injecting history and address the many potential risks that FFI have for resuming injecting drug use.

No abstract

This paper documents the bifurcation of the market for commercial marijuana from the market for designer marijuana in New York City. Commercial marijuana is usually grown outdoors, imported to NYC, and of average quality. By contrast, several varities of designer marijuana are usually grown indoors from specially bred strains and carefully handled for maximum quality. The mechanisms for marijuana sales include street/park sellers, delivery services, private sales, and storefronts. Retail sales units vary from 5 dollars to 50 dollars and more, but the actual weights and price per gram of retail marijuana purchases lacks scientific precision. Ethnographic staff recruited marijuana purchasers who used digital scales to weigh a purposive sample of 99 marijuana purchases. Results indicate clear differences in price per gram between the purchases of commercial (average 8.20 dollars/g) and designer (average 18.02 dollars/g) marijuana. Designer purchases are more likely to be made by whites, downtown (Lower East Side/Union Square area), via delivery services, and in units of 10 dollar bags, 50 dollar cubes, and eighth and quarter ounces. Commercial marijuana purchases are more likely to be made by blacks, uptown (Harlem), via street dealers, and in units of 5 dollar and 20 dollar bags. Imported commercial types Arizona and Chocolate were only found uptown, while designer brand names describing actual strains like Sour Diesel and White Widow were only found downtown. Findings indicate clear divisions between commercial and designer marijuana markets in New York City. The extent that these differences may be based upon different THC potencies is a matter for future research.

This article examines the use pattems of non-injecting heroin users (NIUs) or 'dope sniffers' and their relationship to the heroin markets on the Lower East Side of New York City. The study is based onethnographic research with 23 NIUs during 1996 and 1997. The paper ethnographically explores 1) the shifting dynamics of the retail heroin markets on the Lower East Side, 2) how these market conditions affected non-injecting heroin users' routes of administration and patterns of use, and 3) the ways in which NIUs adapt to illegal heroin markets experiencing increased levels of repression and enforcement.

Recent increases in the prevalence of non-medical prescription drug use across the United States have prompted national concern about the sources of these drugs. The focus of this study is the process by which prescription drugs enter the United States from Mexico through “drug tourism.” Drug tourism refers to the phenomenon by which persons become attracted to a particular location because of the accessibility of licit or illicit drugs and related services. A loophole in U.S. Customs laws enables Americans to legally bring pharmaceutical drugs into the United States when accompanied by a Mexican prescription. Using ethnographic field methods, this study (1) describes the acquisition process, (2) develops a typology of consumers, and (3) explores the interaction between the actors in this process. This study provides a better understanding of the social dynamics of a “gray market” in prescription drugs, and identifies a hidden population of drug users.