“A Friend With Weed Is a Friend Indeed”: Understanding the Relationship Between Friendship Identity and Market Relations Among Marijuana Users
Abstract
The importance of friendship networks and drug sharing is a well-documented feature of marijuana use. Recent studies show an increased role of acquiring marijuana through friends, especially in settings with rather punitive drug policy.
This article aims at gaining insight into the definitions and roles that marijuana users attribute to friendship. Forty-four marijuana users and retailers recruited in North Central Florida were subjected to semistructured interviews, with extensive probes on respondents’ “friends.” Data were analyzed with the use of inductive analysis, and were framed in identity theory.
Respondents’ definitions of friendship contained expectations on marijuana sharing and reciprocation, purchases for friends, and introduction to dealers-who were also referred as “friends.” The study findings suggest that marijuana users’ definitions of friendship include expectations for behavior that sustain the distribution chain. Role-based expectations on “friendly” behavior served as a social control tool that protected marijuana users from illicit market risks.