Mid-level Illicit Drug Supply in a Small English City: Sellers’ Perspectives and Experiences

Abstract

This article examines the experiences of eight mid-level drug suppliers operating in a small English city, through use of qualitative interviews. Building on the literature relating to social supply and drift into ‘real dealing’, we explore whether the mid-market for non-‘street’ drugs in this locale follows a continuation of these norms, or whether features that are prominent in recent explorations of UK drug distribution relating to increasingly aggressive marketing, and organised criminal gangs moving into markets in provincial towns, are present in the city’s market. Analysis encompasses suppliers’ experiences of ‘drift’ into commercial supply, pull factors for market involvement, approaches to marketing and customer service, ethical concerns in supply, and finally perceptions of market violence. We observe that the market, while retaining many features of social supply, nonetheless shows evidence of issues relating to emergent norms of altered distribution, notably market violence linked to establishing ‘lines’ in new locales.