A propos d’un point de vente de drogues : notes ethnographiques

Observations made over a period of 10 years in a popular district in the Sao Paulo periphery support the hypothesis explored in this article – that the violence associated to narcotrafficking activity can only be understood by looking into the different forms of extortion routinely practiced by the two largest police corporations operating there – the military police and the civil police. While buying an illegal « licence » will ensure that a point of sale for drugs will work in peace, the same way a legal licence allows legal businesses to work, buying an illegal licence will not prevent violent conflict between narcotraffickers and police, since the illegal nature of the goods translates into multiple opportunities for extortion. For this reason, efforts to understand how points of sale for drugs work should always take local police stations into consideration