ABSTRACT
An orderly description of a basically fragmented socio-economic phenomenon like ‘the’ drug market seems a contradiction in terms or an impossible endeavour. It must cover the well-known skinny and shabbily dressed young drug runners whispering to tourists ‘stuff, sir?’ on a bridge in Amsterdam, as well as the head of a hierarchically operating crime-family carefully planning a large shipment. In addition, each country or region and each commodity may have its own social market characteristics. Further, as we have noted in the previous chapter, drug markets can mutate quickly, due to the constant pressure from the law and changes in consumer preferences.
