A social drug life: drug distribution in modern day society as a continuum between digital and physical relations

• In Event: WGEDP Panel 1. Illicit drug markets

Abstract

Societal developments greatly impact the way people sell and buy illegal drugs. Latest developments being closely connected to communication technology and the use of online and/or encrypted platforms. In this paper, we aim to merge the research divide by combining two data sets of qualitative interviews with 100 market participants in physical drug markets and online drug markets in Norway. We find that, across datasets, market relations vary in a continuum between being fully digital to fully physical. Some market participants communicate mainly through digital platforms and keep the physical meeting to a minimal or non-existing. Others utilize digital platforms to do basic communication and prepare for physical meetings that they appreciate. Lastly, some relations are purely physical and take place at parties, at school, or in bars. We find that participant's place on this continuum is varied and determined by the social networks they already have. Second, the interactions themselves matter for the establishing and maintaining of market relations. The importance of networks points to the relevance of social positions, whereas the importance of interactions points to the need for general social skills and the agency of actors. While affordances provided by communication technology and digital platforms enable action, and relations are influenced by the illegal nature of transactions - for instance by the significance issues of trust and risk have for market relations - the fundamental social nature of relationships lead us to conclude that traditional market categorizations like online/offline, open/closed, or public/private may obscure the everyday life of selling and buying drugs. Despite technological advancements and new possibilities, buying and selling of illegal drugs are social events where relationships are the key factor to where and how the buying and selling take place.

Authors

• Eirik Jerven Berger, University of Oslo

• Silje Bakken, University of Oslo