Antisocial personality disorder as a predictor of polydrug use: a longitudinal study of the dual mediating roles of deviant peer association and self-control among juvenile offenders

BACKGROUND

Antisocial personality disorder (APD) has been linked to increased risk for polydrug use (PU). However, there is a dearth of research focusing on the mechanisms underlying this risk.

AIMS

To examine the relationship between APD and PU; to test for the mediating effects of deviant peer association (DVA) and self-control in this relationship; to determine if the magnitudes of observed mediation effects are equivalent.

METHODS

The Pathways to Desistance data were analyzed. Generalized structural equation modeling tested for direct and mediating relationships. Mediation effect equivalence was tested using a Clogg Z test.

RESULTS

Antisocial personality disorder was associated with increased drug use heterogeneity (coefficient = 0.479; CI = 0.107-0.851). This was significantly mediated by self-control and DVA. The magnitude of the mediation was significantly stronger for the self-control path (self-control coefficient = 0.233; CI = 0.044-0.422; DVA coefficient = 0.134; CI = 0.028-0.241).

CONCLUSION

While both self-control and DVA were found to be important for explaining PU in APD, it may be beneficial to focus on self-control to address this problem.

'Choice' of social media platform or encrypted messaging app to buy and sell illegal drugs

Social media is increasingly being utilized to facilitate the buying and selling of illegal drugs, particularly by young people. However, the range of social media and messaging platforms means people must make 'choices' around which platforms they will use to conduct drug transactions. Polymedia theory suggests that people use different media to manage their social relationships, 'choosing' appropriate channels or platforms based on platform features and the social context of the relationship. This paper uses polymedia theory to explore how buyers and sellers navigate platform 'choice' for drug trading, and how this bears similarities to the ways in which they move between different platforms in their daily lives. We conducted anonymous online interviews with thirty-three people who buy and/or sell drugs via social media and encrypted messaging apps in New Zealand to explore the factors shaping their selection of platforms for drug transactions. Our findings highlight the importance of the relationship between the buyer and seller in shaping how interviewees weighted the relative importance of platform security and convenience. Though more commercial drug sellers exercised considerable influence in directing buyers of drugs towards a given platform, this pattern was less characteristic of how platform 'choice' was navigated in contexts of drug supply between friends. In social supply contexts, platform 'choices' were often not explicitly made, but rather exchanges were channelled through platforms already in use within the social group. We highlight the tensions that arise between seller preferences for a more secure platform and buyer preferences for greater convenience in contexts of friendship. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding social media drug market engagement as shaped by broader patterns of social media engagement, and the distinctions between different social contexts and personal relationships, consistent with polymedia theory.

An exploratory study of women who use and sell drugs in China

This study offers rare empirical data and insight about the experiences of women who use and sell drugs in China and their participation in the drug economy. Drug selling is traditionally viewed as a male job in China and commonly overlaps with drug use practices. While this largely male-dominated economy has been widely documented, very little is known about the experiences of women. Drawing on interviews with twelve women, this exploratory study aims to shed light on the lives and experiences of women who use and sell drugs in China. Findings indicate that for study participants, entering into the drug selling economy was primarily driven by motives of maintaining their own drug use. Our analysis also shows that participants kept their drug selling within limited social circles. Instead of seeking to make large profits, they often aimed to "help friends" and secure drugs for their own use. Women who sold drugs in our study usually affiliated themselves with their male partners, often purposefully utilizing feminine characteristics and practices to serve gendered roles in drug selling. In doing so, this paper brings to light the gendered nature of drug selling practices and drug market relations in China and more broadly.

The price and mark up of pharmaceutical drugs supplied on the black market

BACKGROUND

Research examining illicit drug markets has shown that price affects consumption and mark ups are extremely high. However, the economics of black market pharmaceutical supply remains unknown, despite increasing harms due to pharmaceuticals.

METHODS

Semi-structured, telephone interviews were conducted in Australia with 51 people involved in supplying pharmaceuticals in the previous six months. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and quantitative information on costs, sale price, quantity and frequency of supply were coded and used to calculate the mark up ratio for each drug transaction 'cycle', accounting for distribution via selling, gifting and trading. Mixed effects gamma regressions were used to identify predictors of price and mark up, clustering by participant.

RESULTS

There were 29 drugs supplied over 111 cycles, including hypnotic-sedatives (38%), pharmaceutical opioids (32%), stimulants (18%) and others (12%). Sedatives were sold at lower prices than opioids and there was a negative relationship between unit price and transaction size, consistent with a discount effect. For every dollar spent acquiring the drugs, the supplier earned a median of $3.19. Cycles involving the distribution of drugs sourced via intermediaries (e.g. friends/family) had lower mark up than drugs sourced directly from the medical system.

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is one of few studies to analyse economic aspects of the pharmaceutical black market from a supply perspective. There were a small number of cycles that realised large profits that may warrant different types of policy responses, however for most suppliers in our sample gross revenue and gross profit was modest.

Bentham, Not Epicurus: The Relevance of Pleasure to Studies of Drug-Involved Pain

There is a disproportionate focus on pain over pleasure in policy-relevant research on drugs. This is unfortunate because theories of and findings on drug-involved pleasure can be used to inform knowledge of drug-involved pain. The cross-fertilization of theories and findings is bolstered by the availability of a conceptual framework that links drug-involved pain and pleasure in a comprehensive, powerful, simple, and instrumental manner. This article proposes such a framework. It consists of four types of drug-involved pain and pleasure: drug-specific corporal, drug-related corporal, economic, and social. This quaternary scheme is illustrated with findings from four literatures, namely, those on methamphetamine use, alcohol-related sexual contact among college students, resource transfer among drug users and dealers, and relational and communal issues related to drugs. The article concludes with implications for the field.

Consumer agency in cannabis supply - Exploring auto-regulatory documents of the cannabis social clubs in Spain

BACKGROUND

There is growing experience with the not-for-profit, consumer-driven cannabis social club (CSC) model that builds on self-supply, self-organization and harm-reduction; these are principles upon which people who use drugs (PWUD) have been engaging for decades. Recent legalization of cannabis in a number of jurisdictions and the related challenges in regulating production, sale, taxation and health-related matters have raised interest in non-commercial models of cannabis supply. The "codes of conduct" (CsoC) of CSC federations in Spain might reveal whether a consumer-based model could overcome these challenges.

METHODS

To examine the content of the CSC auto-regulatory documents, an online search using key terms to identify the CsoC was conducted. Six documents were found; analysis of the main thematic categories and overarching themes was conducted. It was discussed how these corresponded to the areas of cannabis policy regulation and what the main limitations of the CSC model were.

RESULTS

The CsoC detailed the rules for CSC administration, not-for-profit aims, "invitation only" and other conditions of membership, collective cultivation and security as well as for operation of the consumption venue and health-related initiatives. The themes in the CsoC overlapped with cannabis regulatory areas as outlined internationally. Concern over cannabis prices and potency was missing in the CsoC. The potential strengths of the CSC model might include safe environment for peer-delivered harm reduction practice, preventing illicit transactions, quality control, shifting economic surplus to the consumers and increased consumer responsibility. The limitations of the CSC model include high threshold, disguised motives, tax revenue and the risk of both under- and over-regulation.

CONCLUSION

CSCs represent an opportunity to enhance consumer agency and responsibility. The right "to be self-supplied" with psychoactive substances can be granted to consumer associations - but authorities need to provide a framework to facilitate this voluntary self-organization, including minimum standards around public health and safety, and to involve consumers in the development of these regulations.

Instantly Hooked? Freebies and Samples of Opioids, Cannabis, MDMA, and Other Drugs in an Illicit E-Commerce Market

Do drug dealers entice nonusers with free samples? Police, the popular press, and social media users say so, but crime researchers have found little support for this theory and argue instead that sample distribution is an unsound strategy for illegal market business. But what about in digital drug markets, where operational logics are based on sophisticated anonymization technology and reputation systems? The author collected data from a large e-commerce website for drugs over 305 days in 2014 and 2015 and documents that (a) drug dealers give away samples of all major substance categories and (b) sample distribution increases vendor sales for prescription drugs and opioid-based painkillers. To explore possible explanations of these findings, the author collected data from the market’s online forum and analyzed 175 discussions (2,218 posts) about samples. Among the findings is that samples are preferably given to reputable review writers, or “drug critics.”