Negotiating an Illicit Economy in the Time of Covid-19

Selling and Buying Dilemmas in the Lives of People Who Use Drugs in Scotland

Dados Bibliográficos

ID11057293
AutoresA Bancroft (0000-0001-5795-628X, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, autor correspondente), Tessa Parkes (0000-0002-0409-3254, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom), Idil Galip (0000-0002-6650-6536, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom), Catriona Matheson (0000-0002-7568-1125, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom), Emma Crawshaw (Crew, Edinburgh, United Kingdom), Vicki Craik (Crew, Edinburgh, United Kingdom), Joshua Dumbrell (University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom), Joe Schofield (0000-0002-1307-2375, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom)
Ano2022
Volume49
Fascículo4
Páginas369-384
Data de publicação2022-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoContemporary Drug Problems (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0091-4509 • E-ISSN: 2163-1808
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00914509221122704
PMID36312792
OpenAlexW4295004949
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas29

The impact of COVID-19 itself and societal responses to it have affected people who use drugs and the illicit drug economy. This paper is part of a project investigating the health impacts of COVID-19 related control measures on people who use drugs in Scotland. It examines their roles and decisions as economically situated actors. It does this within a moral economy perspective that places economic decisions and calculations within a context of the network of social obligations and moral decisions. The paper uses a mixed methods approach, reporting on a drug trend survey and in-depth interviews with people who use drugs. It finds they were affected by restrictions in the drug consumption context and changes in the supply context, both in terms of what was supplied and changes in the relationship between sellers and buyers. Face to face selling became more fraught. Participants in more economically precarious circumstances were faced with dilemmas about whether to move into drug selling. The double impact of loss of income and reduced access to support networks were particularly difficult for them. Despite the perception that the pandemic had increased the power of sellers in relation to their customers, many full-time sellers were reported to be keeping their prices stable in order to maintain their relationships with customers, instead extending credit or adulterating their products. The effect of spatial controls on movement during the pandemic also meant that the digital divide became more apparent. People with good access to digital markets and easy drug delivery through apps were in a better position to manage disruption to drug sales contexts. We make recommendations in relation to how policy can respond to the interests of people who use drugs in a pandemic

Business · Consumption (sociology) · Context (archaeology) · Negotiation · Order (exchange) · Political science · Situated · Sociology · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Employment and Welfare Studies · Finance · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Law · Marketing