Violence and the Illicit Drug Market: Before During and After Disasters

This paper examines violence and underlying contexts and social processes that occurred among drug users/ dealers before, during and after major disasters: Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. A Stages paradigm is used to study violence during this time. Daily lives, conduct norms and behavior patterns associated with violence are illustrated.

At each stage of the hurricanes, people drew heavily upon what they previously learned about behaving in stressful situations. Study Data for this paper comes from a National Institutes of Health research titled “Stages of Drug Market Disruption and Reformulation in Disaster Cities.” Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in September 2008 provided an opportunity to document the impacts of multiple instances of violence stemming from the illicit drug market in Houston, New Orleans, and Galveston.