Drug trafficking is a very important subject to study, since it is the basis for helping us limit or prevent it. Studying it gives us a better understanding of the personal and psychological motives behind drug dealers and smugglers to initiate in the process, of the violent crimes behind these activities, of the drug movement itself, and of the society we live in. Aware of the importance of having knowledge about drug traffic and smugglers, and conscious of the “enormous research potential in studying them,” Patricia A. Adler, the author of “Researching Dealers and Smugglers” and her husband Peter decided to study this subject more in depth. A legitimate motivation the author might have had for researching the subject is the significant boom that this research could have to her professional career, because she would offer a completely new perspective of drug trafficking.
While studying and analyzing the drug dealers, Mrs. Adler and her husband took a different approach. She felt that past researchers all did the same mistake: they usually wanted to understand the world of criminals from their own perspective. This means that they usually tried to obtain information in a very systematic and distant way, without taking risks or dealing directly with the people involved. The problem with this is that that way the information obtained is not necessarily correct, and it may be vague and not concrete. Dealers may not feel comfortable enough to reveal such safe and risky information to anyone. They may think that the information revealed may be used against them, or that the purpose behind the research is to capture them, fool them, or even blackmail them. So to cover themselves they may give out false information and lies about their actions, movements, and crimes. In contrast, if information is obtained form an insider’s perspective, and the researcher becomes