An exploratory study examining the meaning of drug use and drug trafficking among 64 urban youths and parents attending a community health center was conducted using qualitative and quantitative data-gathering techniques. Many youths had experimented with alcohol or tobacco but not illicit drugs. Drug use and drug trafficking ("running," selling, and dealing) were pervasive in the community, but youths viewed them as two separate activities. Whereas the youths believed that drugs were dangerous and considered themselves invulnerable to using drugs, many were conflicted about involvement in drug trafficking. Parents, however, perceived a close relationship between drug dealing and drug use and strongly feared the negative consequences of both activities. Due to the economic and social attractions of the drug trade, drug running and selling may be activities that serve as precursors to drug use. Attention should be directed toward prevention of drug trafficking as well as drug use, both serious risk behaviors.
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