Examining social supply among nonmedical prescription stimulant users in the San Francisco Bay Area. 2018

Fiona Murphy, and Sheigla Murphy, and Paloma Sales, and Nicholas Lau
Institute for Scientific Analysis, 390 4th Street, Suite D, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. Electronic address: fmurphy297@gmail.com.

In the US, prescription stimulants are prescribed for a variety of conditions including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. Over the last two decades, dramatic increases in stimulant prescriptions have led to greater availability and increased risk for diversion and nonmedical use. Our own and other investigators' findings indicate that many drug "suppliers" do not fit into the traditional image of drug "dealers." These suppliers typically do not identify themselves as "dealers," but instead understand their drug distribution as sharing with people they know. Coomber and colleagues' (2007; 2013) concept of "social supply" raises the question: When friends supply or facilitate supply of drugs to friends, is this really dealing? Further, if dealing and supplying are distinct kinds of social transactions, should different types of criminal justice approaches be applied? Social supply extends our understanding of drug dealing as a complex social activity. In this article, we examine the issue of social supply among nonmedical users of prescription stimulants. We conducted a 36-month National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded project to conduct a qualitative, mixed methods study of 150 adult nonmedical prescription stimulant users in the San Francisco Bay Area. We explore intersecting factors, including life stage and social location, that contribute to decisions to use prescription stimulants nonmedically, motivations to use, knowledge about risks and benefits of prescription stimulant use, any adverse health or social consequences experienced, availability, acquisition and diversion of prescription stimulants, and differences in attitudes and behaviours. For this analysis, we rely on participants' narratives concerning prescription stimulant acquisition practices and how they understood these interactions, purchases, and exchanges with the suppliers of prescription stimulants in their social networks. The authors argue that acknowledging the distinction between social supply and "proper" drug dealing would redress the disparity between drug sharing and profiteering particularly regarding criminal sentencing.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D008875 Middle Aged An adult aged 45 - 64 years. Middle Age
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293 Adolescent A person 13 to 18 years of age. Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults
D000368 Aged A person 65 years of age or older. For a person older than 79 years, AGED, 80 AND OVER is available. Elderly
D000697 Central Nervous System Stimulants A loosely defined group of drugs that tend to increase behavioral alertness, agitation, or excitation. They work by a variety of mechanisms, but usually not by direct excitation of neurons. The many drugs that have such actions as side effects to their main therapeutic use are not included here. Analeptic,Analeptic Agent,Analeptic Drug,Analeptics,CNS Stimulant,CNS Stimulants,Central Nervous System Stimulant,Central Stimulant,Analeptic Agents,Analeptic Drugs,Central Stimulants,Agent, Analeptic,Agents, Analeptic,Drug, Analeptic,Drugs, Analeptic,Stimulant, CNS,Stimulant, Central,Stimulants, CNS,Stimulants, Central
D012495 San Francisco A city in northern California.
D055030 Drug Users People who take drugs for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect. The drugs may be legal or illegal, but their use often results in adverse medical, legal, or social consequences for the users. Drug Abusers,Drug Addicts,IV Drug Users,Intravenous Drug Users,People Who Inject Drugs,Abuser, Drug,Abusers, Drug,Addict, Drug,Addicts, Drug,Drug Abuser,Drug Addict,Drug User,Drug User, IV,Drug User, Intravenous,Drug Users, IV,Drug Users, Intravenous,IV Drug User,Intravenous Drug User,User, Drug,User, IV Drug,User, Intravenous Drug,Users, Drug,Users, IV Drug,Users, Intravenous Drug

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