But if in fact there is a sort of “after-retail” market, in which drugs are passed around a secondary network of friends and acquaintances, there may be scope for a different sort of intervention. Looking at the map of high-school romances, one can import some of its lessons. The researchers started off with the assumption that targeting the best-connected people would pay the highest dividends. In the school, this meant the people with the most sexual partners; in the drug world, it could mean the dealers.
