Shifts and Oscillations in Upper-Level Drug Traffickers’ Careers Adler & Adler

1. Part VIII Chapter 46 Shifts and Oscillations in Upper-Level Drug Traffickers’ CareersAdler & Adler

2. Part 8: Ch. 46 Focus on “burning out” of deviance, specifically exiting drug trafficking Upper echelon marijuana & cocaine dealers & smugglers who were initially attracted to drug trafficking eventually find drawbacks of lifestyle exceeds rewards Previous research focused on low & middle levels of drug smuggling (Anonymous, 1969; Atkyns & Hanneman, 1974; Blum, 1972; Carey, 1968; Goode, 1970; Langer, 1977; Lieb & Olson, 1976; Mouledoux, 1972; and Waldorf et al., 1977)

3. I. Setting & Method Part 8: Ch. 46

4. Part 8: Ch. 46 • Total of 65 smugglers & dealers were observed (N = 65) • Half earned up to three-quarters of a million a year • Other half continually struggled in business, either breaking even or losing money • Based in “Southwest County” – section of large metropolitan area in southwestern California near Mexico border • Marijuana obtained in Mexico & cocaine in Colombia, Bolivia & Peru purchasing between 10 & 40 kilos at a time • Drugs imported to US by land, sea & air

5. Part 8: Ch. 46 • Middled: transferring to another buyer for small, immediate profit ($2-$5 per kilo for marijuana & $5k per kilo for cocaine) • Straight dealing: no middleman entailed • Wholesale marijuana dealers: bought directly from smugglers buying 300 – 1,000 “bricks” & selling in lots of 100 – 300 bricks (avg. a kilo in weight) • Multi-kilo dealers: not smugglers’ first connections, but bought 100 – 300 bricks & sold in 25 -100 brick quantities

6. A. Marijuana & Cocaine Costs Part 8: Ch. 46 • Marijuana prices dependent on following: • Purchase cost • Distance it was transported • Amount of risk assumed • Quality of marijuana • Cocaine prices much more predictable: • $10,000 purchasing a kilo, sold for about $60,000 • “Pound” dealers cut in quantities of pounds ($30,000) or 1/2 pound ($15,000) & sold them to “ounce” dealers who then sold them to “cut ounce” deals ($2,000 per oz)

7. B. High-Level Dealers Part 8: Ch. 46 Pursued drug trafficking as full-time occupation If involved in other businesses, they were usually maintained to provide them with legitimate front for security purposes Profits depended on individual’s style of operation, reliability, security & amount of product he or she consumed Business activities varied, but they clustered together for business & social relations

8. Part 8: Ch. 46 • Smugglers & dealers banded together & pursued “fast” lifestyle emphasizing: • Intensive partying • Casual sex • Extensive travel • Abundant drug consumption • Lavish spending on consumer goods • At this level, drug world was homogenous • Participants predominantly white, from middle-class backgrounds & previous criminal involvement • Included men & women, but most men • Ages 25 to 40 years

9. C. Gaining Entry Part 8: Ch. 46 Drew on snowball sampling techniques Largely by accident Researchers became friendly with group of neighbors who turned out to be heavily involved in smuggling marijuana Use of key informants to gain trust of other members Old ladies: girlfriends or wives of dealers & smugglers

10. II. Shifts & Oscillations Part 8: Ch. 46

11. Part 8: Ch. 46 • Despite gratifications originally derived from easy money, material comfort, freedom, prestige & power, 90% of those observed decided to quit the business • Stemmed in part from initial perceptions of career as temporary • Rapid aging in the career • Tired of living the fugitive life • Disengaging rarely an abrupt act • Rarely successful in making it legitimately because they failed to cut down on extravagant lifestyle & drug consumption

12. Part 8: Ch. 46 • Many abandoned efforts to reform & returned to deviance, sometimes picking up where they left off & other times shifting to new mode of operating • Example: Dealing cocaine to dealing marijuana • Shifted role within same group of traffickers • Series of phase-outs & reentries, combined with career shifts endured for years, dominating pattern of their remaining involvement with the business • But also represented method by which many eventually broke away from trafficking

13. A. Aging in the Career Part 8: Ch. 46 • Once established in drug world, dealers & smugglers entered middle phase of aging in career • Characterized by loss of enchantment with occupation • Result of both extended exposure to mundane, everyday business aspects & exorbitant consumption of drugs (esp. cocaine) • Frenzy of overstimulation & resulting exhaustion hastened process of “burnout”

14. Part 8: Ch. 46 Dealers & smugglers generally repressed awareness of danger. But result of accumulating “scares” increased feelings of “paranoia” They also grew progressively weary of their exclusion from legitimate world & deceptions they had to manage to sustain separation Feeling of being “expatriated citizen within one’s own country”

15. B. Phasing Out Part 8: Ch. 46 (1) Hedonistic & materialistic satisfactions the drug world provided (2) Dealers & smugglers identified with, and developed commitment to, occupation of drug trafficking – self images tied to role & couldn’t be easily disengaged (3) Dealers & smugglers hesitated to voluntarily quite field because of difficulty involved in finding another way to make a living

16. C. Four Patterns Part 8: Ch. 46 • Dealers & smugglers trying to leave drug world fell into one of four patterns: • (1) Postpone quitting until after they could execute one last “big deal • (2) Planning to change immediately but never did • (3) Suspending their dealing & smuggling activities, but didn’t replace them an alternative source of income • (4) Try to move into another line of work

17. D. Reentry Part 8: Ch. 46 Phasing out of drug world was more often than not temporary For most, it represented but another stage of their drug careers Most forced out of were anxious to return Coming back from financial, legal & reputational bustouts was possible difficult & was not always successfully accomplished

18. Part 8: Ch. 46 • About 10% began tapering off drug world involvement gradually • 40% experienced a “bustout” – forced withdrawals, which were usually sudden & motivated by external factors • Legal bustouts generally occurred when dealers or smugglers were either “burned” or “ripped off” by others, leaving them in too much debt to rebuild their operations • Death was ultimate bustout

19. Part 8: Ch. 46 Returning from bustouts usually entailed trial period where they had to reestablish trust & reliability Voluntary reentry involved easier process

20. E. Career Shifts Part 8: Ch. 46 Whether forced out or voluntary bustout, they didn’t always return on same level of transacting or commodity which characterized previous style of operation Many underwent a “career shift” & became involved in some new segment of drug world A final alternative involved neither completely leaving nor remaining within deviant world – a continual “dabbling” in drug trafficking

21. III. Leaving Drug Trafficking Part 8: Ch. 46

22. Part 8: Ch. 46 Oscillation into & out of active drug trafficking makes it difficult to speak of leaving – a final retirement Those forced out had difficult time returning given that bustouts were damaging, with attempted reentries usually unsuccessful Nonetheless it was difficult to ascertain whether leaving was temporary or permanent

23. Review Questions Part 8: Ch. 46 What distinguishes upper-level drug dealers & smugglers from middle & low-level ones? What factors contributed to leaving the drug world? Why was it difficult to do so?

24. Part VIII Chapter 47 Obstacles to Exiting Emotional Disorder IdentitiesHoward

25. Part 8: Ch. 47 Some identity careers have “highly articulated” (Glaser & Strauss, 1971) durations marked by explicit entrances & exits Some, like emotional disorder labels, don’t given that the sensations & experiences that qualify as symptoms tend to be internally located & lack visible boundaries; thus they are highly subjective The present study explores subjective self-meanings of those identified with emotional disorder labels & no longer do (delabelers)

26. I. Data & Method Part 8: Ch. 47

27. A. The Study Part 8: Ch. 47 • In-depth interviews with 40 individuals claiming to be delabelers (N = 40) • Individuals formerly identified with range of emotional disorder labels such as: • Anorexic • Codependent • Bipolar • Agoraphobic • Narratives offer insight into changing subjective meanings of disorder identities over time as well as exits (from such labels)

28. Part 8: Ch. 47 • Only criterion for being considered labeler: • Formerly labeled with emotional disorder either professionally or “self-labeled” • Thus being a delabeler not necessarily synonymous with being “cured” – just that individual no longer uses label as source of identity • Use of snowball sampling & advertisements with flyers • Informants from 10 different states • Primarily female (n = 31) • Ages 20 to 69 years

29. One-third over age 50 • Half in social service, mental health or other health-related profession • Gender skew attributed to feminization of psychotherapy and mental health • Disorders & conditions predominantly resemble DSM-IV-TR criteria of mental disorders • Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders • Majority identified with labels for <10 years, while 11 delabelers report having identified for 10+ years

30. II. Obstacles to Disidentification

31. Identity exit fraught with intra- & interpersonal conflicts that make process emotionally difficult Obstacles of disidentifying illustrated on existential, interactional & cultural levels

32. III. Existential Obstacles

33. Several delabelers went through period of questioning “Who am I now?” after deciding to disidentify with labels • Disidentifying from emotional disorder labels doesn’t involve adopting a new, labeled status, instead the transition moves exiting individual from a highly “marked,” culturally recognized status to completely “unmarked” non-identity • Thus it requires simple forfeit of known identity, which can be destabilizing for most • Faced with identity void

34. A. International Obstacles Disassociating with group identity (i.e., support groups) can trigger feelings of guilt & fear, which are associated with issues of loyalty to group Deserter complex: results from considering leaving group Reverse Stigmatization: fear of being ostracized by group for choosing to disidentify with label

35. B. Cultural Obstacles • Delabelers describe cultural pressure to remain identified as “disordered” • Narratives reflect cultural trend of assuming that label is needed in order to understand & cope with life’s difficulties • The increased psychologization of every day life has borne an explosion in number of therapeutic practitioners & therapeutic self-help groups; and expert domain of psychological professionals & popular self-help culture & media representations further reinforces cultural preoccupation with therapeutics

36. This potential is suggested in several delabelers’ narratives that reveal internalization of their disease concept of emotional behavior, which made disidentifying especially difficult

37. Review Questions What factors influence the process of disidentifying with emotional disorders so difficult? What specific obstacles do delabelers face and to what extent can this be attributed to socialization and society?