Conditions That Increase Drug Market Involvement: The Invitational Edge and the Case of Mexicans in South Texas

Abstract

Research on drug trafficking has not been able to discern the exact nature of illegal drug markets and the relationship between their individual and group participants. This article delineates the role of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-American participants involved in the stratified drug market of South Texas. This article synthesizes ethnographic materials drawn from two previous National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) studies in order identify the different types of drug distribution behaviors that occur within the groups, the differentiated roles of individuals, the organizational framework, and most significantly, the processes that link market participants to others outside of the drug market. This illegal behavior can be interpreted as an adaptive mechanism that is a direct response to the marginal economic status imposed by macro socio-economical background factors. As well, we conclude that the specific foreground factors of the opportunities offered by the context, culture, and proximity of the U.S./Mexico border and invitational edges explain this behavior. There are both parallels and particular differences between the South Texas case and the structuring and functioning of informal legal and illegal markets that are characteristic of other economically disadvantaged communities.

Front Business–Back Business: The Social Anatomy of Small-Time Drug Dealing in a Mexico City Neighborhood

“…Like others, we also argue that drug dealing like any other activity in the informal economy is an “adaptive mechanism” (Valdez and Kaplan 2007, 2) to structural socioeconomic factors, and underemployment that over time leads to the business having intergenerational ties to family members and significant others (Macit 2018). Therefore, the traditional approach to drug dealing in social science literature as deviant behavior (Becker 1953; Adler 1993; Prus and Grills 2003; Bourgois 2003; Williams 1989) is an inadequate lens through which to view the community support and protection this activity engenders in Tepito.…”

Trajectories of Aging Long-Term Mexican American Heroin Injectors

“…The growth of ethnically homogeneous urban enclaves in the early 20th century (Massey, Durand, & Malone, 2003) were situated in close proximity to vice districts where prostitution, gambling, and illegal alcohol and drug consumption were tolerated by public authorities (Bowser, 2003; Valdez & Cepeda, 2010). Exposure to these activities led to the participation of Mexican Americans and Mexicans in criminal activities and involvement in heroin use (Valdez, 2005; Valdez & Kaplan, 2007). This historical context gave rise to a tecato (heroin user) subculture that has been documented in communities where Mexican Americans are highly segregated and marginalized (Bullington, 1977; Casavantes, 1976; Maddux & Desmond, 1981; Moore, 1978; O’Donell & Jones, 1968; Redlinger & Michel, 1970; Valdez, Neaigus, Kaplan, & Cepeda, 2011).…”

Drug-scene familiarity and exposure to gang violence among residents in a rural farming community in Baja California, Mexico

“…That is, in this context of the US–Mexico border as an area where exposure to criminogenic structural conditions is creating an environment of comparatively greater tolerance and participation in these activities among the general public (Valdez and Kaplan 2007). Our findings are particularly timely given similarly documented phenomenon across other regions of the world, in which trafficking of drugs by criminal organisations contributes to increases in drug availability and use in communities along drug-distribution routes (Beyrer et al 2000, McLennan et al 2008, Rachlis et al 2007, Renton et al 2006).…”