Drug
Markets and Drug Users
Lee Hoffer, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of
Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University
Friday August 27, 2010
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall - Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University
Public policy for the "war on drugs" tends to
focus on changing the "market" by addressing
either the "supply side" (usually punishing
dealers and pushers) or the "demand side" (trying
to modify the behavior of users, either with
sanctions or some other behavior modification).
But the market is a social system, not a
mechanical process; and it influences both its
direct participants and others who come in contact
with its participants.
In Junkie Business: The Evolution and
Operation of a Heroin-Dealing Network,
Professor Hoffer studies a drug market in depth.
What does that tell us about drug policy, the
people in those markets, and the effects of both
drugs and policy on those people?
More About Our Guest....
Lee D. Hoffer (Assistant
Professor; Ph.D., University of Colorado, Denver,
2002; M.P.E., Washington University School of
Medicine, St. Louis, 2004). Dr. Hoffer's research
focuses on understanding the political, social,
cultural, and clinical contexts related to illicit
drug use. This work has informed a range of
topics, including; HIV risk behaviors of drug
injectors, diagnostic nosology for substance use
disorders, understanding trends in drug use, as
well as drug policy and intervention studies. More
recently, Dr. Hoffer's research examines how
illicit drug markets, and the acquisition of
drugs, influences users behaviors and negative
health outcomes. In 2000, Dr. Hoffer conducted an
eighteen month ethnographic case-study of a heroin
dealing network in Denver, Colorado. This
fieldwork focused on the dealer's business
operations; transactions with customers; the
interaction between addiction and drug
acquisition; social and economic exchange
relationships; as well as, characterizing the
history of the local heroin market.
This research is detailed in his book Junkie
Business: the Evolution and Operation of a
Heroin Dealing Network (Thompson-Wadsworth
Press, 2006). His on-going research involves
synthesizing agent-based computational modeling
techniques and ethnographic research to develop
new tools for policymakers and researchers.
Borrowing from theories of Complexity Systems,
these projects seek to connect the rich
descriptive detail offered by anthropology with
the epidemiology of drug abuse.
From 1997-1999 Dr. Hoffer was Colorado's
representative to NIDA's Community Epidemiology
Workgroup. He was also active in the Colorado
Department of Public Health and Environment and
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) HIV community planning efforts. From
2002-2005 he trained as a (T32) NIDA post-doctoral
fellow in psychiatric epidemiology at Washington
University School of Medicine, Epidemiology and
Prevention Research Group (EPRG), mentoring with
Dr. Linda Cottler. His research is supported by
grants from the National Institutes of Health,
National Institute of Drug Abuse, as well as, The
National Science Foundation (Cultural Anthropology
& Methods, Measurement, and Statistics
program).
Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:
September 3: Jonathan Entin,
Professor of Law and Political Science, CWRU
School of Law and Jonathan Adler, Professor of Law
and Director Center for Business Law and
Regulation, CWRU School of Law: Supreme Court
Forecast.
September 10: Joshua Stacher,
Assistant Professor of Political Science, Kent
State University: Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
September 17: Jeremy
Bendik-Kreymer, Associate Professor and
Beamer-Schneider Chair in Philosophy: The Design
of Arab Universities as a Political Act.
September 24: Dean Baker,
Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy
Research (Washington DC): The Budget Deficit
Panic.
October 1: Ashwini Sehgal MD,
Duncan Neuhauser Professor of Community Health
Improvement and Director, Center for Reducing
Health Disparities, CWRU and Metrohealth: The U.S.
News and World Report Hospital Rankings.
October 8: Karen Gahl-Mills,
Executive Director, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture: How
the Arts Levy is Spent.
October 15: Kathryn C. Lavelle,
Ellen and Dixon Long Associate Professor of World
Affairs: Sovereign Debt and Sovereign Default:
International Institutions in the Developed and
Developing Worlds.
October 22: Professor Karen
Beckwith, Assistant Professor Justin Buchler, and
Adjunct Assistant Professor Andrew Lucker,
Department of Political Science: Midterm Elections
Forecast.
October 29: Special Inamori
Center Event, as part of International Peace and
War Summit: see http://www.case.edu/provost/inamori/peacesummit/.
November 5: Kelly McMann,
Associate Professor of Political Science: Unrest
in Kyrgyzstan and Its Implications for the War in
Afghanistan.
November 12: Max Mehlman,
Professor of Law: Why We Need Death Panels.
November 19: Jessica Green,
Assistant Professor of Political Science: Global
Responses to Greenhouse Gases.
December 3: Paul Ernsberger,
Associate Professor of Nutrition: Health At Any
Size.
The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower
(ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with
mobility issues may find it easiest to take
advantage of special arrangements we have made. On
most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P.
lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone
Chapel are held for participants in the lunch
discussion.
Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the
first floor of Crawford by entering the building
on the ground level, through the garage area under
the building. The further door on the left in that
garage will be left unlocked during the period
before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will
be unavailable because of other university events.
For more information about these and other Center
for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.
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August 23, 2010
Upcoming
Events
Inamori
Prize Lecture: All the Cowboys Were Indians: The
Story of Where RAM Began
Stan Brock – humanitarian,
conservationist, and founder of Remote Area
Medical (RAM) and winner of the this year's
Inamori Ethics Prize
12:30pm in Severance Hall on Wednesday,
September 1st. All are welcome!
This will be followed at 3:00pm by an academic
symposium at the Inamori Center in Crawford Hall,
which will be a lively panel discussion featuring
Stan Brock, Jessica Berg and Bob Binstock from
CWRU, and Danny Williams of the Cleveland Free
Clinic (the symposium is also free and open to the
public, but seating is limited).
For more information call 216-368-2579 or visit
the Inamori
Center Web site now.
Have
special interests and
deep
pockets hijacked the
Ohio Constitution?
September 1, 2010 at noon,
Cleveland City Club
A panel discussion featuring: Jonathan
Entin: Associate Dean for Academic
Affairs, Case Western Reserve
University School of Law and Steven
Steinglass: Professor of Law and Dean
Emeritus, Cleveland Marshall
College of Law
Since the U.S. Constitution was written in 1787,
it has been amended 27 times. In the
past eight years alone, the Ohio Constitution has
been amended 10 times. Jonathan Entin,
Professor of Law and Political Science at Case
Western Reserve University, posits that
Ohioans have cluttered up the state constitution
with narrow-interest, overly-technical
amendments better left to the legislative process.
Since 1912, the Ohio Constitution has required
that voters be given the opportunity every
twenty years to call a state constitutional
convention; Ohioans will vote on this question
in 2012. Steven Steinglass, Dean Emeritus at
Cleveland-Marshal College of Law will
address the pros, cons and possible unintended
consequences of calling a constitutional
convention.
Tickets: $15 - Members; $25 - Guests
$200/250 - Nonprofit table of 8/10
$280/350 - Corporate table of 8/10
All prices include lunch. Reservations and
cancellations are required at least 24 hours in
advance of the event.
For more informationcall 216-621-0082 or visit the
City Club Web
site now.
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About
the Friday Lunch Newsletter
If you would like to
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inclusion please send a notice to padg@case.edu.
All submissions must be received at
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E-mail padg@case.edu.
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