“Just Doing a Favor for a Friend”: The Social Supply of Ecstasy Through Friendship Networks

• Author: David A. Bright,Rachel Sutherland
• Date: 01 July 2017
• DOI: 10.1177/0022042617704004
• Published date: 01 July 2017
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042617704004

Journal of Drug Issues

2017, Vol. 47(3) 492 –504

© The Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/0022042617704004

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Article

“Just Doing a Favor for a Friend”:

The Social Supply of Ecstasy

Through Friendship Networks

David A. Bright1 and Rachel Sutherland2

Abstract

The current project focused on the “not for profit” supply of illicit drugs within social networks.

The aims of the study were to (a) explore the characteristics of social supply of ecstasy and

the typical ways in which social dealing occurs, and (b) explore the benefits of social supply as

perceived by those who engage in social supply. Overall, the results suggest that social supply

of ecstasy occurs in dense, closely knit friendship networks and that mutual supply may be

common. Users within friendship networks source ecstasy independently and concurrently

supply to members of the group to ensure consistent supply of quality product and to minimize

risks of health harms and criminal justice consequences. Social dealing produces little or no

financial profit, yet the majority of participants in this study purchased ecstasy in amounts that

expose them to significant criminal justice penalties.

Keywords

social supply, illicit drugs, ecstasy, social networks

Introduction

Social supply has been defined as “the non-commercial (or non-profit making) distribution of

drugs to non-strangers” (Hough et al., 2003, p. 36), and “supplying friends where profit is not

the primary motive” (Potter, 2009, p. 58). Despite limited research in this area, the social supply

of illicit drugs appears to be a common practice. For example, a study of regular psychostimu-

lant users found that on the last occasion of purchase, 58% of the sample had purchased ecstasy

for other people and 71% had last obtained ecstasy from a friend or acquaintance (Sindicisg,

Stafford, & Breen, 2016). Similarly, the 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey

(NDSHS) reported that 63% of past year ecstasy users acquired ecstasy from a friend or acquain-

tance (AIHW, 2014), while Fowler, Kinner, and Krenske (2007) found that 89% of ecstasy users

first contact a friend or acquaintance when attempting to obtain ecstasy. Similar patterns of

social supply have been described in marketplaces for cannabis. For example, Grigg, Lenton,

Scott, and Barratt (2015) found that among a sample of 200 cannabis users, 94% reported that

they had supplied cannabis to someone else at some point in their life, with the majority of those

reporting that they supplied only to friends and family or only to friends and family of their

1Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

2National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Corresponding Author:

David A. Bright, Associate Professor, Centre for Crime Policy and Research, Law School, Faculty of Education

Humanities and Law, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide 5001, Australia.

Email: david.bright@flinders.edu.au

704004JODXXX10.1177/0022042617704004Journal of Drug IssuesBright

research-article2017