Don't be your own best customer?Drug use of San Francisco gang drug sellers

Abstract

In general, it is believed that most retail drug sellers, those who sell small amounts, use the drugs they sell and that drug sales is undertaken not only for the purpose of making money but to get the drugs they desire or need. In a few instances there have been accounts of groups who rationalized drug sales to maximize profits and as a result did not use the drugs they sold, but the literature on the topic of the drug use of sellers has been sketchy. This paper will report preliminary findings of a survey of 300 gang members in San Francisco about the drug use of gang drug sellers. These findings reveal that the majority of gang crack sellers, who are usually African-American, donot use crack themselves while the majority of marijuana, powder cocaine and heroin sellers do use the drugs they sell. In general, African-American gangs that sell crack in San Francisco have rules about the use of crack by sellers and believe that it is highly addictive drug that is bad for business and is contrary to a gang principle of “being down” for the “hood” and other gang members.