NCJ Number
214391
Journal
Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse Volume: 4 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 2005 Pages: 99-134
Date Published
2005
Length
36 pages
Annotation
A total of 383 male gang members from various ethnic groups in the San Francisco Bay Area were interviewed to determine the role of marijuana use in the gang's daily activities and culture.
Abstract
Even before joining a gang, gang members regularly smoked marijuana. Marijuana use was also common among their family members in the home and in public settings such as schools. This suggests a cultural use of marijuana beyond gang affiliation. Although the reasons that gang members smoked marijuana varied--including self-medication, disinhibition, recreation, peer pressure, and escape--being part of a gang provided the opportunity and context that encouraged the use of marijuana in easing stress. Marijuana was also the primary drug sold by gang members, especially among African-Americans. Drug sales were the major source of income for 57 percent of the men interviewed. Although marijuana is accepted as part of the personal lifestyle of gang members and the primary drug for sales, some gangs and gang members, particularly African-Americans and Latinos, impose controls on the use of hard drugs. The primary reason for this is that such drugs are viewed as having the potential to interfere with drug sales. Marijuana, on the other hand, is viewed by most gang members as posing a low risk to health, social and business functioning, and legal complications. This data, which were obtained between 1997 and 1999, came from face-to-face interviews with 383 self-identified male gang members of 92 different gangs; 32 were African-American, 28 were Latino, 28 were Asian and Pacific Islander, and 4 were Caucasian. Gang members were recruited for the study by using a chain-referral sampling method in which gang members referred other members of their own gangs. 3 tables and 73 references