WOMEN IN THE STREET-LEVEL DRUG ECONOMY - CONTINUITY OR CHANGE

Images of women in the contemporary drug economy are highly mixed. Mos t scholars emphasize change in women's roles, some emphasize continuit y, and others suggest that both change and continuity are evident. At issue is whether an increased share of women were involved in selling and higher-level distribution roles in the crack cocaine markets of th e late 1980s and early 1990s, compared to the heroin markets of the 19 60s and 1970s. We present the results of an ethnographic study of wome n drug users conducted during 1989-92 in a New York City neighborhood. Contrary to those who suggest that crack cocaine markets have provide d ''new opportunities'' for women, we find that such opportunities wer e realized by men. At the same time, the conditions of street-level se x work, which has traditionally provided women drug users with a relat ively stable source of income, have deteriorated.