Congregation sites for youthful multiple drug users: locations for epidemiological research and intervention

Field research techniques were used to collect observational and interview data at outdoor sites in the south Chicago suburbs where youthful drug users congregated during good weather to buy, sell and use multiple drugs. Results indicated that the distribution system for non-opiate drugs is more stable than previously thought and that drug purchase occurs at such outdoor sites in the summer months and at the homes of drug users' friends during the winter. The largest and most active site in the area, a forest preserve, was intensively studied utilizing epidemiological survey and participant observation techniques. In contrast to smaller, neighborhood sites, this area attracted drug users and dealers extensively involved in heavy multiple drug use. Subjects came from an extremely wide area and were not organized into cohesive friendship groups formed during grade school and high school. A wide range of drug types was regularly available. The large proportion of unemployed youth and high school dropouts among the sample suggested that field techniques at such sites would be more likely to contact those youth most heavily involved in drug distribution and use than programs based in schools or industry.