Illegal Drug Business - Essay Example

? The largest market of the world for drugs; is USA. Illegal drug business is expanding by leaps and bonds in North America and many other regions ofthe world. It is not only adapting an organized pattern to expand, but also a separate society has been born, with its own norm and living standards. This is an alarming situation, where people accept the usage and marketing of drugs as a legal and survival mechanism. Due to low income and poverty, people are determined to sell these drugs for an earning. The fact remains the same, if people involved in this business find other means to earn sufficiently, would they be able to quit this devastating business? The opportunity and availability of respected earning ways; can only minimize the problem to some extent. Social and racial biases have to be kept aside to recruit the people and provide them with an alternate way to earn otherwise poverty will lead to more abuse and destruction of humankind.” Low income Americans name drug abuse as no.1 cause of poverty for them” ( npr, poverty in America, 2001). Ethnography is a qualitative study, through which various cultural phenomena can be understood regarding lives of people of any specific cultural group. It also tells the social welfare qualities, ethnicity and composition of a community. This method is required while collecting empirical data on specific societies and groups. Participants in particular society play vital role in this method, as data is collected through personal experiences and observation of these participants through interviews and questioners. Dr. Lee D. Hoffer in his book, Junkie Business: the evolution and operation of drug dealing network; described the process of development and working of an illegal drug dealing business. It sheds light on how a street based partnership became a running organized business with clear and planned division of labor. The change in dealer’s life is also evident throughout ( Hoffer,2006). According to Micheal Agar, the collection of data directly extracted from the people of specific culture and through direct involvement, can only enable one to understand better the coherent system. Anthropologist research is always based upon two major strategies to collect the research data accurately, the way to interview the participants and to extract participant’s observation. They both go hand in hand as one cannot be considered accurate without the other.(Hoffer, 2006) During the late ninetieth century, anthropologist only relied upon interviews to gather cultural data. This procedure was suitable for them as the change in cultural norms and customs; only began at that time. But to understand it better; they needed an inside vision of it. They lived with the participants to observe and understand the various distinctions. They realized soon people often misinterpreted and provided the information by predicting the expectations of the interviewer. This was a psychological factor, where at times they wanted to please the interviewer for material gains and sometimes to hide the truth ( Bailey, People, p.99). Drug business in various parts of America verifies the acceptance of illicit usage of drugs commonly and it also describes the vast expansion of network; with its organizational skills. The people hired for the sole purpose of drug selling; don’t come into it by choice but they are left with no option to earn from other means. The poverty and disappointment from unemployment leads them to drug selling and risking their lives with it. Sometimes they are unable to explain to their prospective employers the reason of unemployment period as they became what economist call “discouraged workers”. (Robbins.p.174). Hence they come into contact with drug dealing to support and pay for their addictions. Therefore they become more actively involved in the business due to their need of the drug. However, the financer or investor does not seem to be bounded in such obligations. It’s merely a way to earn more than normal. Though risk of life is also involved here but the potential income is far more attractive than the other. To understand the network of drug business ethnographer begins with jotting down day to day observation of the participant behavior and pattern of working. Where not only the significant dealings are recorded but also the participants’ version of story is written. The initial structure depends upon the most basics of the networking system and it provides a platform to develop rapport with participants to achieve the objectives of research. Like Bourgoise in El Barrio helped to understand, how the network of a drug system works along with it the reasons and trend of a community where people were involved and their day in and day out routines. ( Robbins, p.173) It’s not always a likable and easy project to work upon. Often researchers are met with hostility and are considered as an outsider. Regional biases and serotypes make it difficult to work with the subject community. Ethnographers are rarely accepted in such situations by all the members of a specific community ( Bailey, People, p.99). To gather or collect data and inside information especially in drug business, one needs to pay or facilitate the participant by any mean. In poorer regions they are a good resource of income and sometimes provider of transportation. In other words, they have to pay for the information; which decreases the authenticity of it, in some cases participant want to earn for their own needs and desires so they use false information also. Field work requires a lot of time and good rapport with the key informant. Lengthy period of study is required with the drug dealing community to comprehend the pattern of life there. After the initial hypothesis is done, key informants who are knowledgeable in the field determine the various zones and people who participate in dealings or are interconnected one way or the other. One drawback of this study is that it narrows down the problem to a community or society and observes specific pattern of that particular society which reduces the evaluation process and thus cannot be applied for other fields or areas to work upon. Other than that, the focused approach only enabled anthropologist to identify the problems of participants of drug dealing business, the impact of their actions are often ignored for the sake of research. However, these agents play major role in affecting and endangering health of people and they are mostly associated with criminal activity areas.( Schaffer library of drug policy,1994). They live in close kin-ship relationships to be a support and to enjoy intimacy but also they don’t want to indulge them self in marriage hassle as it becomes an obligation. The mean of earning is inconsistent so marriage is avoided at all times even by women ( Robbins, p.172). The life of a woman becomes more challenging in this regard; they have to maintain substantial means of living not only for them self but also for the sake of their children. The exploitation of social security cards is more prominent in these scenarios. They encourage the false identities and trough the welfare agencies. This seems quite natural for a family’s point of view that is in need, but in large it is becoming a cause of shortage of help for the others deserving families. Only close observation reveals a lot of hidden customs of these societies, where various trends are followed to keep the life on running track. Often people say what they believe and they do, but the truth lies in their behavior and the way they carry them self in social circles. Only way to see the authenticity of their statement, is through staying close and observing them. There are multiple perspectives on a similar situation by different members of a community. The challenge lies behind; understanding interlink among them. Their day to day is keenly observed to find relevance with the research questions. Researchers adapt a pattern where they can see the inside story without becoming part of it. This research method has its own shortcomings also. They take a lot of time on the participants and researchers part. Not all the observations can be recorded as sometimes these researchers are actively involved with participant on field survey or facilitating them to acquire the desired information. The researchers have to be neutral observer at all times, if they are involved or have sympathetic feelings for the participant; they often are dazed to see the real dilemma of the situation. Researchers have to maintain confidentiality to some extent as it disrupts the process of interviewing and people often misinterpret the purpose with racism or personal biases. A ready observer knows how to gauge information out of the subjects. To make it more effective and to jot down the minute details webcams and recorders can also be used, but it all depends on whether the subject or participants allow it or not. In some case they do when they are assured to keep their identities anonymous. This method is not always applicable as in drug dealings and other illegal business; it’s a threat for all. If few participants allow it but the other interlinked dealers won’t then it’s better to adapt some other strategy for recording the event. The risk and stakes are often too high in ethnographic researches as one custom or norm is broken accidently by researcher, he becomes a suspicious entity for the whole community. To make these researches more effective and to acquire promising results, researches have to pay attention towards the reasons people behave or act in certain matters. Like why and how people indulge them self in this life threatening business. If the reasons are known, they should be minimized and eliminated because research is not the objective; the aim behind research is to reduce the problem and trafficking of drugs. If the poverty and lack of jobs aren’t dealt with seriousness, due to racial and other personal biases people will involve them self in these illegal trade affecting the whole world in return. Bibliography: Peoples, James, and Garrick Bailey. Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2010. Print. Hoffer, Lee D. Junkie Business: The Evolution and Operation of a Heroin Dealing Network. Australia: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2006. Print. Robbins, Richard H. Cultural Anthropology: A Problem-Based Approach. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2009. Print. npr online. NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Poll,2001 accessed on 4th dec.2011 from http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/poll/poverty/ Schaffer library of drug Policy. technologies for understanding and preventing substance abuse and addiction.us government office of technology .chapter 7 ethnographic drug studies,1994 accessed on 3rd dec.2011 From http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/ota/ch7.htm Read More