title: Street sale of heroin--a profitable way of making a living?
abstract: The aim of the study was to give an outline of the financial environment of heroin-sale at street level in Norway and the possibilities of making retail sale of heroin a living. Data were gathered through police records and interviews with informants at street level. Retail sale price has been nominally stable at 300 Nkr (28 pounds, i.e., 1 pound = 11 Nkr) per end-user dose since 1978. This price is coupled to the price of one standard service by street prostitutes. Both the end-users and retailers formally make their living from social welfare payments. The retailer purchases from a wholesaler batches of up to 10 g of heroin at a cost of 50,000 Nkr (4800 pounds). At monthly intervals of delivery this yields 120,000 Nkr (11,500 pounds) as net tax-free income per year, on top of the social welfare payments, even when the retailer and his accomplice consumes a third of the purchased quantity. Crime of gain on the part of the retailer is negligible, due to increased risk of also disclosing his drug trafficking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000191:economics; D003932:Heroin / Q000191:economics*; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000191:economics*; D015994:Incidence; D007182:Income; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000191:economics*; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D003932:Heroin