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Crack house closure by West Midlands Police in the United Kingdom

A drug house (also known as a drug den, crack house, shooting gallery, trap house, or bando)[1] is a residence used in the illegal drug trade. Drug houses shelter drug users and provide a place for drug dealers to supply them. Drug houses can also be used as laboratories to synthesize (cook) drugs, or cache ingredients and product.

Drug houses have been a subject widely presented in hip hop and trap music, with the latter genre being named after an American slang term for a drug house.[2][3]

United States

The strongest industry in some U.S. urban areas is the illegal drug trade.[citation needed] Abandoned buildings ravaged by arson or neglect are utilized by drug dealers since they are free, obscure, and secluded, and there is no paper trail in the form of rent receipts. The sale of illegal drugs often draws violent crime to afflicted neighborhoods, sometimes exacerbating the exodus of residents.[citation needed] In some cases, enraged citizens have burned crack houses to the ground, in hopes that by destroying the sites for drug operations they would also drive the illegal industries from their neighborhoods.[4] Many major American urban areas contain crack houses.[5][6][7]

United Kingdom

See also: Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003

Strong legislation in England and Wales provides a mechanism for police and local authorities to close premises which have been associated with disorder or serious nuisance.[8][9] Often, these drug houses have been found in social housing, which has been taken over by drug dealers and users.[10]

These closure orders were designed to disrupt class A drug dealing and anecdotal evidence suggests that it mainly affects socially housed tenants. The effect is that once an order is made, the premises are boarded up, and no one may enter the premises, initially for a period of three months, but this can be extended to six months on the application of the police.[11]

Popular culture

See also

References

  1. ^ "trap house". US English Dictionary. Lexico. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Trial Asks if Music Producers' Lives Imitate Gangsta Rap". The New York Times. 17 November 2005.
  3. ^ McDonnell, John (28 July 2009). "Scene and heard: Crack house". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
  4. ^ "'Crack House' Fire: Justice or Vigilantism?". The New York Times. 22 October 1988.
  5. ^ "10 Children Found Left in Crack House". Associated Press. 25 January 1997 – via LA Times.
  6. ^ "23 gang members charged in huge Englewood drug bust".
  7. ^ "MAN CLEARED OF ARSON CHARGES IN FIRE AT ALLEGED CRACK HOUSE.(News/National/International)". 27 July 1996. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, s.2(3)(b)[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Cumbria Constabulary v Wright (2006) EWHC 3574 (Admin); [2007] 1 WLR 1407
  10. ^ Mack, Jon (2008), "Anti-social behaviour: Part 1A closure orders", Journal of Housing Law, 11 (4): 71–74, archived from the original on 2011-09-27, retrieved 2009-01-04
  11. ^ Mack, Jon (2008), "Antisocial Behaviour Closure Orders, Injunctions, and Possession: Refining the Law", Landlord & Tenant Review, 12 (5): 169–171
  12. ^ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 13 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Spike Lee's Inferno, the Drug Underworld". The New York Times.
  14. ^ "Play It Again, Spike". The New York Times. 26 March 2006.
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