Letizia Paoli, Victoria A. Greenfield, and Peter Reuter
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195322996
- eISBN:
- 9780199944194
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195322996.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance, Comparative and Historical Sociology
This chapter explores the distinctive configuration of the opiate market and heroin trade. It proposes a theoretical model of effective illegality that helps to explain the role of government in ...
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This chapter explores the distinctive configuration of the opiate market and heroin trade. It proposes a theoretical model of effective illegality that helps to explain the role of government in determining each country's mode of participation in heroin trade. This model integrates economic, political, and sociological concerns and it identifies three stylized cases of enforcement and categorizes countries according to their implementation of international prohibitions on opiate production and trafficking. The model shows that aside from opium poppy cultivation, not all forms of non-enforcement offer the best conditions for illegal drug businesses.Less
This chapter explores the distinctive configuration of the opiate market and heroin trade. It proposes a theoretical model of effective illegality that helps to explain the role of government in determining each country's mode of participation in heroin trade. This model integrates economic, political, and sociological concerns and it identifies three stylized cases of enforcement and categorizes countries according to their implementation of international prohibitions on opiate production and trafficking. The model shows that aside from opium poppy cultivation, not all forms of non-enforcement offer the best conditions for illegal drug businesses.
Ko-lin Chin and Sheldon X. Zhang
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479895403
- eISBN:
- 9781479832514
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479895403.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
In a country long associated with the trade in opiates, the Chinese government has for decades applied extreme measures to curtail the spread of illicit drugs, only to find that the problem has ...
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In a country long associated with the trade in opiates, the Chinese government has for decades applied extreme measures to curtail the spread of illicit drugs, only to find that the problem has worsened. Burma is blamed as the major producer of illicit drugs and conduit for the entry of drugs into China. Which organizations are behind the heroin trade? What problems and prospects of drug control in the so-called “Golden Triangle” drug-trafficking region are faced by Chinese and Southeast Asian authorities? This book examines the social organization of the trafficking of heroin from the Golden Triangle to China and the wholesale and retail distribution of the drug in China. Based on face-to-face interviews with hundreds of incarcerated drug traffickers, street-level drug dealers, users, and authorities, paired with extensive fieldwork in the border areas of Burma and China and several major urban centers in China and Southeast Asia, the book reveals how the drug trade has evolved in the Golden Triangle since the late 1980s. It also explores the marked characteristics of heroin traffickers; the relationship between drug use and sales in China; and how China compares to other international drug markets.Less
In a country long associated with the trade in opiates, the Chinese government has for decades applied extreme measures to curtail the spread of illicit drugs, only to find that the problem has worsened. Burma is blamed as the major producer of illicit drugs and conduit for the entry of drugs into China. Which organizations are behind the heroin trade? What problems and prospects of drug control in the so-called “Golden Triangle” drug-trafficking region are faced by Chinese and Southeast Asian authorities? This book examines the social organization of the trafficking of heroin from the Golden Triangle to China and the wholesale and retail distribution of the drug in China. Based on face-to-face interviews with hundreds of incarcerated drug traffickers, street-level drug dealers, users, and authorities, paired with extensive fieldwork in the border areas of Burma and China and several major urban centers in China and Southeast Asia, the book reveals how the drug trade has evolved in the Golden Triangle since the late 1980s. It also explores the marked characteristics of heroin traffickers; the relationship between drug use and sales in China; and how China compares to other international drug markets.
Ko-lin Chin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479895403
- eISBN:
- 9781479832514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479895403.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
This chapter examines women’s participation in drug trafficking and street drug dealings in Yunnan, China, to understand how women have played a role in gaining and maintaining market positions in ...
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This chapter examines women’s participation in drug trafficking and street drug dealings in Yunnan, China, to understand how women have played a role in gaining and maintaining market positions in this illicit business. Drawing on data from a survey of 297 convicted female inmates and in-depth interviews with more than a dozen active female drug dealers in the community, it proposes a niche market perspective for understanding women’s participation in this illicit enterprise. Unlike other traditional enterprises, women were not simply relegated to invisible margins, but instead were present in many levels of the drug trade. In most cases, women worked for or with male partners, but they occasionally participated independently. Perhaps the most important feature of the drug trade along the border between Yunnan and Burma that shapes women’s participation is the absence of violence.Less
This chapter examines women’s participation in drug trafficking and street drug dealings in Yunnan, China, to understand how women have played a role in gaining and maintaining market positions in this illicit business. Drawing on data from a survey of 297 convicted female inmates and in-depth interviews with more than a dozen active female drug dealers in the community, it proposes a niche market perspective for understanding women’s participation in this illicit enterprise. Unlike other traditional enterprises, women were not simply relegated to invisible margins, but instead were present in many levels of the drug trade. In most cases, women worked for or with male partners, but they occasionally participated independently. Perhaps the most important feature of the drug trade along the border between Yunnan and Burma that shapes women’s participation is the absence of violence.
