Drifting into dealing: Becoming a cocaine seller

Murphy, Sheigla; Waldorf, Dan; Reinarman, Craig

doi:10.1007/bf00989408

Cited by 88 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Consistent with the work of Murphy et al (1990), acting as a ''go-between'' (or ''designated buyer''), also provided lowlevel key modes of entry -or ways of drifting -into social supply. In the case of the ''designated buyers'', in line with Blum and Associates (1972), once an individual became known as someone who potentially had access to drugs, they swiftly became the point of access to drugs.…”

Section: Brady (27) Somerset Samplementioning

confidence: 83%

“…As in the findings of Murphy et al (1990), moving into supply did not generally represent a conscious decision; instead, the culture of normalisation surrounding ''own use'' diminished any perception of the supply aspect as being either calculated or conspicuous:…”

Section: Sophie (25) Somerset Samplementioning

confidence: 97%

“…While designated buying is most associated with the social supply concept, more involved practices may also fall under this term. ''Party buying'', where an individual will purchase large amounts of drugs for a specific event for a group of friends, or ''stash buying'' (Murphy, Waldorf, & Reinarman, 1990) where larger quantities of drugs are purchased to reduce the cost of the drugs, can also be conceptualised as non-commercial and as social supply, even though the quantities of drugs supplied may be closer to what might be expected from a profitmotivated dealer .…”

Section: ''Doing'' Social Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this respect, delinquents were not consciously committed to deviant values but, due to low levels of self control, they tended to drift in and out of deviant activity, blurring moral boundaries and rationalising their acts through ''techniques of neutralisation'' (Sykes & Matza, 1957). Scholars have since made use of Matza's theoretical position as a way of understanding transitions in and out of drug supply, for both cocaine sellers (Murphy et al, 1990) and suppliers of ecstasy (Murphy et al, 2004;Ward, 2010). Murphy et al's (1990) seminal paper used the concept of drift to make sense of respondents' fluid cocaine supply histories, highlighting the tendency for drug users to drift into supply by virtue of strategies for negotiating the problems concerned with using a prohibited substance or minimising risk/harm.…”

Section: Drifting Into Social Supply?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scholars have since made use of Matza's theoretical position as a way of understanding transitions in and out of drug supply, for both cocaine sellers (Murphy et al, 1990) and suppliers of ecstasy (Murphy et al, 2004;Ward, 2010). Murphy et al's (1990) seminal paper used the concept of drift to make sense of respondents' fluid cocaine supply histories, highlighting the tendency for drug users to drift into supply by virtue of strategies for negotiating the problems concerned with using a prohibited substance or minimising risk/harm. Empirical findings taken from the data presented here suggest that many social suppliers exhibit behaviours consistent with the ''drift and drug supply literature''.…”

Section: Drifting Into Social Supply?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

The normalisation of drug supply: The socialsupplyof drugs as the “other side” of the history of normalisation

Coomber

Moyle

South

2015

Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy

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Aims: Describes how the relative normalisation of recreational drug use in the UK has been productive of, and fused with, the relatively normalised and non-commercial social supply of recreational drugs. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 60 social suppliers of recreational drugs in two studies (involving a student population n ¼ 30 and general population sample n ¼ 30). Respondents were recruited via purposive snowball sampling and local advertising. Findings: Both samples provided strong evidence of the normalised supply of recreational drugs in micro-sites of friendship and close social networks. Many social suppliers described ''drift'' into social supply and normalised use was suggested to be productive of supply relationships that both suppliers and consumers regard as something less than ''real'' dealing in order to reinforce their preconceptions of themselves as relatively non-deviant. Some evidence for a broader acceptance of social supply is also presented. Conclusions: The fairly recent context of relative normalisation of recreational drug use has coalesced with the social supply of recreational drugs in micro-sites of use and exchange whereby a range of ''social'' supply acts (sometimes even involving large amounts of drugs/money) have become accepted as something closer to gift-giving or friendship exchange dynamics within social networks rather than dealing proper. To some degree, there is increasing sensitivity to this within the criminal justice system.

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Section: Brady (27) Somerset Samplementioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Sophie (25) Somerset Samplementioning

confidence: 97%

Section: ''Doing'' Social Supplymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Drifting Into Social Supply?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Drifting Into Social Supply?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The normalisation of drug supply: The socialsupplyof drugs as the “other side” of the history of normalisation

Coomber

Moyle

South

2015

Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy

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Inconvenient friendship: How successful cocaine dealers manage social obligations

Crawford

2021

Economic Anthropology

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Based on life history interviews with successfully retired drug dealers, this article examines opportunities and challenges in the suburban underground economy. "Friendship" is key. Suburban drug dealing occurs exclusively through networks of friends, kin, and the acquaintances thereof. Friends are functionally necessary for the suburban illegal drug business but also economically inconvenient in that they require sharing drugs, spending time, "hanging out," and "partying." Friends represent "transaction costs" in conventional economic terms. The ambivalence produced by this, in profiting from friends and mixing sociality and commerce, is best understood via insights from economic anthropology, preeminently Marcel Mauss. For Mauss, gifts and self-interest, generosity and profit, are, and ought to be, conceptually inseparable. Dealers vividly demonstrate this entanglement.

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Criminal Acting of Rural Migrants

Shen

2018

Springer Series on Asian Criminology and Criminal Justice Research

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Drifting into dealing: Becoming a cocaine seller

Cited by 88 publications

References 13 publications

The normalisation of drug supply: The socialsupplyof drugs as the “other side” of the history of normalisation

The normalisation of drug supply: The socialsupplyof drugs as the “other side” of the history of normalisation

Inconvenient friendship: How successful cocaine dealers manage social obligations

Criminal Acting of Rural Migrants

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