Drug Trafficking and Drug Use among Urban African American Early Adolescents

Abstract

The relation between drug trafficking (selling and delivering) and drug use among young adolescents has remained poorly characterized to date. In the current study, the associations between drug trafficking, cigarettes and/or alcohol use, and illicit drug use have been explored in three different areas—self-reported behaviors, personal feelings, and perception of friends' involvement—based on a sample of 455 African American youths 9 through 15 years of age residing in six urban public-housing developments. Results confirm findings from previous research that illicit drug use rarely occurs in the absence of cigarette/alcohol use or drug trafficking. By contrast, drug trafficking is equally likely to occur in isolation of, or along with, some drug use. The results support a potential role of drug trafficking in the genesis of illicit drug use. Prevention efforts should extend their focus beyond cigarettes, alcohol, and illicit drug use to drug trafficking.