Evaluating the Social Structure of a Local Heroin Market

描述（由申请人提供）：由NIDA资助的研究指出了将药物滥用作为个人在其环境中的行为进行研究的重要性。虽然药物滥用者的直接环境受到相当多的研究关注，但对间接环境影响的考虑较少。了解当地毒品市场的结构和吸毒者在这些市场内的活动有可能扩大预防干预措施。这项实验研究代表了一种新的分析视角，可以通过基于已收集的人种学数据集的基于计算机的当地海洛因市场社会模拟，来理解这一较少探索但极其重要的药物滥用维度。通过模拟一个海洛因交易市场，目的是证明方法是可行的，并能产生有意义的结果。该项目的长期目标是利用所创建的模拟作为未来非法市场模拟的模板，最终导致“模拟经济系统”的发展。模拟当地海洛因市场将有助于研究人员和政策制定者了解吸毒者的自组织行为，并确定这些系统的结果。这个实验项目的具体目的是：

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Research funded by NIDA points to the importance of studying drug abuse as the behavior of individuals in their environments. Although direct settings of drug abusers have received considerable research attention, less consideration has been given to indirect environmental influences. Understanding the structure of local drug markets and drug user's activities within these markets has potential for expanding prevention interventions. This experimental research represents a novel analytic perspective for understanding this less explored, yet extremely important, dimension of drug abuse with a computer-based social simulation of a local heroin market based on an already collected ethnographic data set. By simulating one heroin dealing market, the objective is to demonstrate that methods are feasible and can produce meaningful results. The long term goal of this project is to utilize the simulation created as a template for future illegal market simulations eventually leading to the development of a "simulated economic system." Simulating a local heroin market will be useful to researchers and policymakers to understand the self-organizing behaviors of drug users and identify the outcomes of these systems. The specific aims of this experimental project are to: 1. Construct a computer application that simulates a local heroin dealing market based on 18 months of ethnographic data previously collected by the applicant about this market, as well as a mid-level heroin dealing organization that operated within it. 2. Experiment with the computer application and manipulate its parameters and components. 3. Rigorously document the simulation modeling procedure: a. To note the strengths and weaknesses as a method for research on drug dealing. b. Recommend how future research can be designed to facilitate simulating other drug related behaviors. 4. Disseminate simulation results, project information, and programming notes to encourage and facilitate further research using this technology in the study of illegal drug use behaviors.