An Exploratory Study of Ecstasy Distribution

描述（由申请人提供）：自1993年以来，美国缉毒局（DEA）缉获的摇头丸增加了一千倍（DEA， 1999年）。从1998年到2000年，提到急诊室的人数增加了295%，其中超过80%是26岁以下的患者（CEWG， 2001年）。摇头丸使用量的增加预示着对它的需求的增加，可能导致毒品市场的趋同（供应商在其产品线中增加一种新药）或新的经销商网络的出现。到目前为止，人们对摇头丸的分布知之甚少。这个为期36个月的项目的总体目标是对旧金山的摇头丸分布进行定性研究。第一阶段将包括对关键线人的采访和实地观察，在我们自己和其他调查人员在该地区的工作中确定的三个主要场所，作为使用和销售摇头丸和其他俱乐部毒品的主要场所：1)狂欢或公共舞会；2)俱乐部;3)私人聚会。在研究的第二阶段，采用人种学抽样技术，我们将招募120名参与者（每种类型40人），他们在过去六个月里出售或交换过五次或更多的摇头丸剂量。我们将采访16岁以上居住在旧金山湾区的参与摇头丸分销的个人。通过将研究扩展到许多环境中相对较低水平的卖家，我们希望采访各种各样的经销商，从使用者/卖家到不使用的卖家，从初学者到长期经销商，从只销售摇头丸的卖家到同时销售其他俱乐部毒品的卖家，从小规模的中间人到较大的批发商，从陌生人到朋友或亲戚的卖家和买家。项目结果将提供急需的关于摇头丸销售者的社会关系如何影响健康和社会行为的经验信息，以便设计更有效和适当的公共卫生倡议和预防信息。这项研究的结果将以适合三种受众的形式发表——临床医生、从事药物治疗和预防项目的人员以及社会科学家。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Since 1993, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) seizures of Ecstasy have increased a thousand fold (DEA, 1999). From 1998 to 2000, emergency room mentions increased by 295 percent and more than 80 percent were for patients younger than 26 (CEWG, 2001). The escalating use of Ecstasy portends an increased demand for it, leading perhaps to the convergence of drug markets (suppliers adding a new drug to their product line) or the emergence of new dealer networks. To date, very little is known about Ecstasy distribution. The overall aim of this proposed 36-month project is to conduct a qualitative study of Ecstasy distribution in San Francisco. The first phase will consist of key informant interviews and field observations in three settings identified by our own and other investigators' work in this area as the main settings where Ecstasy as well as other club drugs are used and sold: 1) raves or public dance parties; 2) clubs; 3) private parties. During the second phase of the research, employing ethnographic sampling techniques, we will recruit 120 participants (40 from each type of setting) who have sold or exchanged five or more Ecstasy doses five or more times in the previous six months. We will interview individuals involved in Ecstasy distribution who are 16 years of age or older and reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. By extending the study to relatively low level sellers in numerous settings, we hope to interview a full range of distributors, from user/sellers to sellers who do not use, from initiates to long term dealers, from sellers who sell Ecstasy only to those who sell other club drugs as well, from small scale go-betweens to larger wholesalers, and from sellers and buyers who are strangers to those who are friends or relatives. Project findings will provide much needed empirical information about the ways in which Ecstasy sellers' social relationships impact health and social behaviors in order to design more effective and appropriate public health initiatives and prevention messages. This study's findings will be published in forms appropriate to three audiences -- clinicians, people who work in drug treatment and prevention programs and social scientists.