I. Sommers et al., THE STRUCTURAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DRUG-USE, DRUG DEALING, AND OTHERINCOME SUPPORT ACTIVITIES AMONG WOMEN DRUG SELLERS, Journal of drug issues, 26(4), 1996, pp. 975-1006
Interviews were conducted with 156 women drug sellers from two New Yor
k City neighborhoods with high concentrations of drug selling, neighbo
rhoods that had active heroin markets in the 1970s and were sites for
the growth of cocaine and crack markets a decade later. Structural equ
ations models were estimated to test the relationships over two time p
eriods between drug use and income generation activities including dru
g dealing, crime, legal work, and public transfers. Dependent variable
s included self-reports of income and expenses together with criminal
career parameters. Results showed that the effects of prior drug expen
ses on subsequent crime, drug, and work incomes were nonsignificant. O
verall, drug dealing appears to suppress future non-drug crime activit
y. Prior drug selling has a facilitating effect on later drug use and
significant negative effects on subsequent crime income generation and
legal work Selling also helped women avoid the types of street hustli
ng, including prostitution, and other crimes that characterized women'
s income strategies in earlier drug eras. Drug use careers are influen
ced less by earlier drug use patterns than by income growth from deali
ng that appears to increase opportunities to expand drug use.