NCJ Number
215225
Journal
Crime, Law and Social Change Volume: 44 Issue: 1 Dated: 2005 Pages: 19-33
Date Published
2005
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Based on 38 interviews with Rotterdam (the Netherlands) cocaine retail dealers, this study describes how cocaine supply lines in the Netherlands are organized in order to fine-tune policy with respect to crime, public order, and safety regarding the different trade levels.
Abstract
The retail cocaine market is strictly divided into separate markets for crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Crack dealers are often users of hard drugs who live in relatively disadvantaged conditions. Although selling cocaine is their primary activity, they also tend to be involved in other activities related to the drug scene, such as smuggling cocaine through the Amsterdam airport. The supply/distribution chain for cocaine in Rotterdam is seldom more than two steps. The large cocaine transports that enter the Netherlands through Rotterdam harbor are not apparently part of the distribution line of the Rotterdam cocaine retailers. Because the supply for the Rotterdam cocaine retailers comes mainly from small-scale imports, police operations that successfully interdict large-scale cocaine imports will have little influence on the local cocaine supply in Rotterdam. Nearly all of the 38 Rotterdam low-level retail dealers interviewed were recruited through 2 community fieldworkers who were formerly employed by the Addiction Research Institute Rotterdam within the framework of the Rotterdam Drug Monitoring System. The recruiters are themselves experienced low-level retail cocaine dealers and also frequent users of their own merchandise. During the interviews, the cocaine retailers were asked to describe their own cocaine trade as well as the rest of the domestic cocaine distribution chain. 6 notes and 22 references