Drug markets and distribution systems

TLDR

Illicit drug markets have evolved from open street‑based venues in the 1990s to closed, mobile‑phone‑enabled markets, driven by community damage concerns and enforcement pressures. The article classifies UK retail drug markets into open markets, closed markets, crack or dealing houses, and other retail forms, and analyzes their distribution structures. It also reviews evidence on the intermediary “middle‑level” markets that supply these retail systems, and examines how supply, demand, and enforcement interact, including market adaptations and perverse enforcement effects.

Abstract

Illicit drug markets are a part of our society. How visible and detrimental they are to their host communities has shaped enforcement action against them. Until the mid-1990s, open street-based markets were probably where most illicit drugs of dependency were bought and sold. With the steady rise in market activity, communities tired of the damage these markets caused, and demanded a police response. Quite separately, but around the same time, there was a proliferation in the ownership and use of mobile phones. Together, they provided open markets with both the impetus and the means to evolve into closed markets. Now this type of market is probably where most drugs of dependency are bought and sold. This article offers a classification of retail markets, distinguishing between open markets, closed markets, crack or dealing houses and other forms of retail system, and examines variations in the structure of distribution within these markets – mainly in the United Kingdom. At the same time, we also examine the available evidence on the 'middle level' drug markets that support these retail markets; and consider the relationship between supply, demand and enforcement, examining the adaptations that markets will make to enforcement and the perverse effects that enforcement may cause.