TY - JOUR
T1 - Examining how prescription drugs are illegally obtained
T2 - Social and ecological predictors
AU - White, Clair
AU - Ready, Justin
AU - Katz, Charles
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The research was funded, in part, by the Maricopa County, Arizona Managers office. This research was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Arizona State University (IRB Protocol 0610001246).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 The Author(s).
PY - 2016/1
Y1 - 2016/1
N2 - The rise in prescription drug abuse is changing crime patterns among drug users and the structure of illegal drug markets. The illegal distribution of prescription drugs is different from traditional street drug markets because prescription drugs can be obtained from multiple sources including doctors, pharmacies, friends, and street-level dealers. Drawing from drug-market research, this article investigates whether there are individual and ecological predictors of how prescription drugs are illegally obtained. Our study uses multilevel analyses to examine a random sample of 366 drug offenders arrested in Maricopa County, Arizona. Our findings indicate that individuallevel characteristics such as mental illness and street drug use, as well as residential mobility within neighborhoods, are significant predictors of how prescription drugs are obtained for nonmedical purposes. This research suggests that an individual's routine activities and neighborhood characteristics are related to their methods for obtaining prescription drugs. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.
AB - The rise in prescription drug abuse is changing crime patterns among drug users and the structure of illegal drug markets. The illegal distribution of prescription drugs is different from traditional street drug markets because prescription drugs can be obtained from multiple sources including doctors, pharmacies, friends, and street-level dealers. Drawing from drug-market research, this article investigates whether there are individual and ecological predictors of how prescription drugs are illegally obtained. Our study uses multilevel analyses to examine a random sample of 366 drug offenders arrested in Maricopa County, Arizona. Our findings indicate that individuallevel characteristics such as mental illness and street drug use, as well as residential mobility within neighborhoods, are significant predictors of how prescription drugs are obtained for nonmedical purposes. This research suggests that an individual's routine activities and neighborhood characteristics are related to their methods for obtaining prescription drugs. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.
KW - Drug Markets
KW - Neighborhood Characteristics
KW - Prescription Drugs
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U2 - 10.1177/0022042615608502
DO - 10.1177/0022042615608502
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84960964464
SN - 0022-0426
VL - 46
SP - 4
EP - 23
JO - Journal of Drug Issues
JF - Journal of Drug Issues
IS - 1
ER -