Drug Market Criminology

• Published date: 01 September 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567717748727
• Author: Kim Moeller
• Date: 01 September 2018
• Subject Matter: Guest Editorial

Guest Editorial

Drug Market Criminology

Kim Moeller

1

Drug distribution has been researched in various academic disciplines since the 1960s. Illicit drugs

provide the financial foundation for street gangs and organized criminals, cause severe public order

problems, consume criminal justice resources, and are a highly relevant topic in criminology. In this

International Criminal Justice Research special issue on drug market criminology, I wanted to bring

together research from several areas related to the market aspects of distribution, the exchange of

money for drugs under conditions of competition.

In response to the call for papers, after review, and careful revisions, five papers were included in

this special issue. These articles highlight key theoretical and empirical aspects of drug markets,

analyzing conceptual and theoretical issues, problems related to the effects of policies on buyer and

seller behavior, as well as distribution methods. Finally, there are two book reviews on Metham-

phetamine and Anslinger’s war on drugs, which close the issue and demonstrate the issue’s historical

importance, as well as present challenges for research.

The first article, “Drug market criminology—Combining economic and criminological research

on illicit drug markets” by guest editor Moeller, presents a theoretical approach that combines the

economic and sociologically inspired perspectives on illegal drug markets. This middle-range social

embeddedness approach captures the essential trade-off where dealers must avoid law enforcement

efforts and find ways to trust their transaction partners while simultaneously running a profitable

business. Analyzing drug distribution as a rational adaptation to the contrasting demands of security

and efficiency is a way to move forward the criminological research on drug markets.

The second article, “How close to the ‘honeypot?’—A comparative analysis of cannabis markets

under two different policies towards personal cultivation” by Belackova, Brandnerova, and Vechet,

examines how cannabis policies in the Czech Republic and New South Wales influence users’

acquisition practices and product preferences. Using semistructured interviews, the authors find

that official policy can encourage small-scale cannabis cultivation, which yields lower perceived

health and social risks to users, compared to products made at large-scale cultivation sites.

The third article, “The unusual suspec ts—An educated, legitimately emp loyed drug dealing

network” by Salinas, challenges the discourse that drug dealers are social outsiders operating in

marginalized communities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, Salinas argues that

the illegal drug trade is not confined to marginalized drug distributors. The organi zation and

structure of the drug distribution network he examined were neatly entwined into the fabric of

conventional routines of middle-class young British men.

1

Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

Corresponding Author:

Kim Moeller, Aalborg University, Kroghstraede 7, 9220 Aalborg, Denmark.

Email: km@socsci.aau.dk

International CriminalJustice Review

2018, Vol. 28(3) 189-190

ª2018 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/1057567717748727

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