The material, moral, and affective worlds of dealing and crime among young men entrenched in an inner city drug scene

Abstract

A large body of previous research has elucidated how involvement in drug dealing and crime among marginalized urban youth who use drugs is shaped by the imperatives of addiction and survival in the context of poverty. However, a growing body of research has examined how youth’s involvement in these activities is shaped by more expansive desires and moralities. In this paper, we examine the material, moral, and affective worlds of loosely gang affiliated, street level dealing and crime among one group of young men in Vancouver, Canada. Drawing on longitudinal interviews with 44 young men from 2008 to 2016, and ethnographic fieldwork with a group of approximately 15 of those young men over the same time period, we argue that for these youth, dealing and crime were not solely about economic survival, or even the accrual of highly meaningful forms of “street capital” in the margins. Rather, as “regimes of living,” dealing and crime also opened up new value systems, moral logics, and affects in relation to the tremendous risks, potential rewards, and crushing boredom of life in the margins. These activities were also understood as a way into deeply desired forms of social spatial belonging in the city, which had previously only been imagined. However, across time dealing and crime ultimately “embedded” young men in cycles of incarceration, destitution, addictions, and mental health crises that ultimately reinforced their exclusion – from legal employment, but also within the world of crime. The findings of this study underscore the importance of adopting a life course perspective in order to meaningfully address the harms associated with involvement in dealing and crime among youth in our setting.

Prevalence and correlates of selling illicit cannabis among people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada: A ten-year prospective cohort study

“…We observed greater likelihoods of cannabis selling among younger individuals and males, consistent with cohort data from at-risk youth in North America reporting that over half of the participants have engaged in drug dealing, while studies of older PWUD report prevalence estimates of 17-25% (Gwadz et al, 2009;Kerr et al, 2008;Semple, Strathdee, Zians, & Patterson, 2013;Werb et al, 2008). Many PWUD initiate and continue drug dealing despite the associated risks, due to the need to support ongoing drug use, as well as the stigmatization and marginalization that persist as barriers to participation in the legal economy (Fast et al, 2017;Hepburn et al, 2016;Small et al, 2013;Werb et al, 2011). Looking beyond economic explanations, qualitative work suggests that drug dealing can enmesh individuals in valued forms of sociality, morality, dignity and belonging in places characterized by entrenched marginalization and exclusion (Bourgois, 1996;Cheng et al, 2016;Fast et al, 2017;Fast, Shoveller, Shannon, & Kerr, 2010;Wakeman, 2016).…”

“…The lowest quasilikelihood under the independence model criterion (QIC) value was used to identify the model with the best overall fit (Pan, 2001). Since engagement with selling illicit drugs has been found to vary by gender and age, and because of strong age and gender correlates of cannabis selling in the preliminary analyses, we also conducted subanalyses to identify predictors of selling cannabis in specific sex and age strata (Bellair & McNulty, 2009;Fast, Shoveller, & Kerr, 2017;Gwadz et al, 2009;Hepburn et al, 2016;Mayock, 2005). These additional models included subgroups of females ≤ 30 years old, males ≤ 30 years old, females > 30 years old, males >30 years old.…”

“…Many PWUD initiate and continue drug dealing despite the associated risks, due to the need to support ongoing drug use, as well as the stigmatization and marginalization that persist as barriers to participation in the legal economy (Fast et al, 2017;Hepburn et al, 2016;Small et al, 2013;Werb et al, 2011). Looking beyond economic explanations, qualitative work suggests that drug dealing can enmesh individuals in valued forms of sociality, morality, dignity and belonging in places characterized by entrenched marginalization and exclusion (Bourgois, 1996;Cheng et al, 2016;Fast et al, 2017;Fast, Shoveller, Shannon, & Kerr, 2010;Wakeman, 2016). Therefore, expanding low-threshold employment opportunities for PWUD and pairing these opportunities with addiction services may not only serve to alleviate economic constraints, but also provide PWUD with valued forms of sociality and belonging outside of the illicit drug market (DeBeck et al, 2007).…”

“…Together, these findings demonstrate that many PWUD are contending with the intersection of multiple social, economic and health vulnerabilities. There is also evidence suggesting that participation in drug dealing is often a means of economic survival that provides alternate forms of sociality, mediates boredom of 'life in the margins' and is a strategy to support their addiction, rather than as a method of gainful employment (DeBeck et al, 2007;Fast et al, 2017). In fact, a previous study reported that decreased intensity of drug use was an independent predictor of drug dealing cessation among PWUD (Werb et al, 2011).…”

Blowing in the wind? The effect of weather on the intensity and spatial distribution of crime

“…Reflecting these findings, a recent study from Malmö, Sweden, found that concentrated social disadvantage, residential instability, and numerous alcohol outlets were predictors of violent crime hot spots (Gerell and Kronkvist, 2017). Open illegal drug scenes are associated with violence and burglary as well as drug crimes (Fast, Shoveller, and Kerr, 2017;Sandberg and Pedersen, 2009).…”