“The first time I took acid I was in heaven”: a consumer research inquiry into youth illicit drug consumption

Abstract

Consumer research and marketing rarely examine illegal forms of economic life despite the fact that market terminology is often (and increasingly) applied to describe the exchange relations in illicit markets like prostitution and drug consumption. Represents an attempt to use a consumer research perspective to explore the youth consumption of illicit recreational drugs. The findings show that the illicit structure of the market for recreational drugs has a direct effect on the consumer decision‐making process in terms of expectations, risk judgments and source credibility. The findings highlight the importance of social networks and implicit exchange relations in the market for recreation drugs. The paper concludes that there is value in a drawing on a consumer research approach to examine illicit marketing contexts.