An Examination of Drug Activity: Effects of Neighborhood Social Organization on the Development of Drug Distribution Systems

Abstract

Objective. The ability to determine the geographic locations of illicit drug markets is central to the development of preventive interventions that address access to drugs and associated problems, such as violence and crime.

Method. The current study examined individual self-reports of drug activities and demographic information obtained from two waves of a telephone survey of 1704 individuals aged 15 to 29 conducted in 1999 and 2001 across 95 census tracts in a Northern California city and measures of neighborhood characteristics derived from Census 2000 measures.

Results. The results of the study showed that, at the individual level, younger people and male respondents reported most drug activities. At the aggregate level, neighborhood poverty was directly related to higher rates of drug activity. Residential stability was found to moderate reports of drug activity observed by African-Americans and young people.

Conclusion. Social processes reflected in neighborhood characteristics of census tracts influence rates of self-reports of individuals' exposures to drug activities.

Keywords:

• drug markets
• routine activities
• social disorganization
• social networks
• neighborhoods

Notes

¹The reader is reminded that “Hispanic” is a language and cultural category and not an ethnic group. Editor's note.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

BRIDGET FREISTHLER

Bridget Freisthler, Ph.D., is currently an Associate Research Scientist at the Prevention Research Center/ Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. She joined PRC/PIRE in February 2000 as the research analyst for the Sacramento Neighborhood Alcohol Prevention Project and is currently working on the Safer California Universities Project, a five-year, NIAAA-funded study applying environmental interventions on seven of 14 college campuses to reduce drinking and drinking-related problems among college students. Dr. Freisthler earned her Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. She is particularly interested in studying the spatial relationships between neighborhood mechanisms and drug and alcohol problems, particularly as they relate to child abuse and neglect.

ELIZABETH A. LASCALA

Elizabeth A. LaScala, M.P.H., Ph.D., has served for over a decade as a Consulting Research Scientist at Prevention Research Center/Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Berkeley, California. Dr. LaScala earned her M.P.H. from University of Michigan and her Ph.D. in Public Health from University of California, Los Angeles with a specialty in the Behavioral Sciences and Health Education. At UCLA she focused her research efforts on health behaviors associated with compliance to medical recommendations and smoking prevention and cessation. From 1994–1998 Dr. LaScala managed multiple traffic safety projects at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. There she provided the initiative to collect and maintain an expanded database for injury analyses of child pedestrians, bicyclists, and pedestrians who had been drinking. At Prevention Research Center, Dr. LaScala's research interests include ecological studies of traffic injuries and alcohol outlets, and most recently, the development of illegal drug markets.

PAUL J. GRUENEWALD

Paul J. Gruenewald, Ph.D., is currently Scientific Director of Prevention Research Center/Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Berkeley, California. Scientists at the Center specialize in research into the prevention of drug- and alcohol-related problems from an environmental perspective, emphasizing ecological changes that may reduce or eliminate drug use and related problems in community settings. He has served as a Senior Research Scientist at the Center since 1987. He now serves as Principal Investigator of a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Research Center grant examining “Environmental Approaches to Prevention,” the Sacramento Neighborhood Alcohol Prevention Project (SNAPP), a study of the impacts of environmental prevention efforts on alcohol-related violence in two neighborhoods of Sacramento, California, and Alcohol Outlets and Violence, a study of the impacts of over-densities of alcohol outlets on violent assaults. Dr. Gruenewald's primary research interests are ecological and geographical studies of alcohol and drug use and related problems, and the mathematical epidemiology of drinking patterns and problems. In honor of his research achievements, Dr. Gruenewald recently received a Merit Award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to support continued studies of alcohol outlets and violence.

ANDREW J. TRENO

Andrew J. Treno, Ph.D., received his Ph.D. in Sociology in 1983 from the University of California at Berkeley. He has been at the Prevention Research Center for over 10 years researching alcohol problem prevention and evaluation. He has published in the areas of community mobilization, alcohol involvement in injury, and evaluation of environmental approaches to the prevention of alcohol-related problems. He currently serves as Project Director for SNAPP. In this capacity he has given numerous community presentations on the project and has successfully obtained CSAP funding in support of project interventions. He has also worked to adapt many of the evaluation instruments from the Community Trials project to the SNAPP project.