Survival, Income, and Status: Drug Dealing in the Chicago Puerto Rican Community (From Drugs in Hispanic Communities, 1990, P 77-101, Ronald Glick, Joan Moore, eds. -- See NCJ-133768)

• NCJ Number: 133772
• Author(s): R Glick
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 25 pages
• Sale Source: Rutgers University Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Ethnographic research based on life history interviews with 45 Puerto Rican heroin addicts and ex-addicts in Chicago reviews the history of drug dealing.

Abstract

Drug dealing is described in four historic periods: a "hip" period prior to 1967; an epidemic period between 1967 and 1973; a polydrug period between 1974 and 1981; and a cocaine period from 1982 through the present. The review notes within these time frames the purposes of dealing for survival, in the sense of meeting minimal living expenses and/or supporting a drug habit, for more substantial income, and for status. Central sets of problems affecting both drug dealing and abuse include: disruptions brought by migration from Puerto Rico and followed by extensive geographic movement in Chicago; the erosion of the Puerto Rican culture in the United States and the widespread breakdown of the traditional family structure; and economic, linguistic, and racial barriers. The theory of an emerging underclass in the post-Vietnam War United States explains the persisting poverty of the Chicago Puerto Rican community which has affected decisions to deal drugs and has influenced significantly the family breakdown, demoralization, and movement to drugs to escape or overcome problems. 1 note