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44 Crime L. & Soc. Change 1 (2005)

handle is hein.journals/crmlsc44 and id is 1 raw text is: Crime, Law & Social Change (2005) 44: 1-18 DOI: 10.1007/s10611-006-9014-8 © Springer 2006 Ecstasy in the city: Synthetic drug markets in Europe The outcomes of a field research MONICA MASSARI Department of Sociology and Political Science, University of Calabria, Italy (e-mail: massarimonica@netscape.net) Abstract. How do new drug markets develop and operate? Which are the characteristics of synthetic drug suppliers? How are they organized, owned and managed? This article sum- marizes the outcomes of a cross-national study which investigated three urban synthetic drug markets at a different stage of development: Amsterdam, Barcelona and Turin. The study - the first of this type in Europe - outlines a composite picture which clearly indicates the presence of rather flexible and dynamic actors and a quasi free drug economy. Hence, the role played by more structured, mafia-type organizations, even in Italy, needs to be reconceived. The wide use of primary sources, altogether the adoption of qualitative interpretative tools, contributed to shed some light on a phenomenon which is still poorly investigated both at national and international levels. Introduction Although biases and limitations are an unavoidable component of any research process, it is worth mentioning that the greatest problem in studying drug markets - as well as similar businesses - is that they are, by nature, illegal and mostly hidden activities. Official data sometimes provides only partial and incomplete information, while qualitative research often relies on just a few cases representing only a small part of the situation under investigation. In the case of synthetic drugs supply, the issue has received very little attention from the international scientific community. This article contains the outcomes of a field research on synthetic drug markets in three European cities: Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Barcelona (Spain) and Turin (Italy).1 The general question examined by the research teams was how the various actors supplying and distributing synthetic drugs to the illegal urban markets are organized, owned and managed, with special attention paid to the larger social context in which they operate. From the outset, it was clear the three markets investigated were at different stages of development due to the peculiar evolution patterns of the local drug scenes. being the first two cities located within major international trafficking routes while the third in a more peripheral position. Furthermore, the bulk of studies,

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