caa a22 4500 467910138 CHVBK 20180406152847.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e20061201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10645-006-9029-7 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10645-006-9029-7 Exploring the Structure of the Illegal Market for Cannabis [Elektronische Daten] [Chris Wilkins, Paul Sweetsur] Summary: This paper explores the middle and retail levels of the illegal market for cannabis in New Zealand using national household drug survey data. Those who reported purchasing half or full ounces of cannabis were defined as middle level market participants, while those who purchased smaller weights or merely used cannabis were defined as retail level participants. Those who had purchased cannabis were then further categorised as either cannabis ‘buyers' (i.e. those who only purchased sufficient cannabis for their own consumption needs) or cannabis ‘dealers' based on whether the surplus of cannabis they had, after their own personal consumption was deducted, exceeded the legal definition of cannabis dealing (i.e. possession of 28g of cannabis or more). Nine per cent of those who had purchased cannabis in the previous year were categorised as middle level participants with 69% of these defined as middle level dealers and 31% as middle level buyers. Middle level cannabis dealers were projected to earn, on average, $2927 (NZD) net annual profit from selling surplus (rate of return of 34%). There was a wide variation in the projected net earnings of the middle level cannabis dealers with the majority earning only modest incomes (bottom 50% - $260per year, top 10% - $25000 per year). Participants at all levels of the market commonly reported receiving cannabis for ‘free' and this is likely to reflect the social sharing of cannabis during group consumption and non-cash payments for cannabis. This barter and gift giving tradition may provide cannabis users with a degree of insulation from any price increases for cannabis brought about by law enforcement activity. Cannabis selling creates a convenient source of income for heavy cannabis users to finance their own personal cannabis consumption, which may also dampen the impact of any rise in price brought about by law enforcement success. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2006 cannabis nationallicence earnings from drug dealing nationallicence illegal market structure nationallicence national household drug survey nationallicence Wilkins Chris Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE), Massey University, Wellesley Street, P.O. Box 6137, Auckland, New Zealand aut Sweetsur Paul Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE), Massey University, Wellesley Street, P.O. Box 6137, Auckland, New Zealand aut De Economist Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers; http://www.springer-ny.com 154/4(2006-12-01), 547-562 0013-063X 154:4<547 2006 154 10645 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-006-9029-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-006-9029-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Wilkins Chris Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE), Massey University, Wellesley Street, P.O. Box 6137, Auckland, New Zealand aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Sweetsur Paul Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE), Massey University, Wellesley Street, P.O. Box 6137, Auckland, New Zealand aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- De Economist Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers; http://www.springer-ny.com 154/4(2006-12-01), 547-562 0013-063X 154:4<547 2006 154 10645 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer