NCJ Number
131392
Journal
Druglink Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: (July/August 1991) Pages: 12-13
Date Published
1991
Length
2 pages
Annotation
The recent history of opiate use in Poland provides a "natural experiment" that can help disentangle the relative contributions of supply and demand to drug-use levels.
Abstract
Recreational drug use developed in Poland as a result of the spread of related Western cultural values but also under economic conditions that sealed off the country from the international drug market. The nonconvertibility of Polish currency became a barrier to imports of all kinds, including drugs. Thus, matching supply with demand became a problem. A breakthrough was eventually achieved in 1976 when a pharmacology student in Poland developed a technique for deriving an injectable opiate preparation from poppy straw, a waste product of the opium poppy when grown for seed. Although most drug users produce drugs, they do so on an intermittent basis. New users usually begin by buying on the market, located in a shifting but easily identifiable area of town where sellers and potential customers congregate. However, the cheapness of producing one's own drugs dictates that users will try to establish their own production alliance. At no point does the accumulation of profit have any role to play; thus, supply matches demand rather than supply creating demand. The British system of prescribing drugs for heavy users seen by doctors can only cope with a relatively static situation. The Polish system, on the other hand, can respond to a dynamic situation where the demand for drugs is increasing. It remains to be seen whether or not the Polish equation of drug supply and demand will change as the country opens up to international market forces.