The growing relationship between gangs and drugs, both sales and use, is causing increasing worry for law enforcement officials, local government representatives and community workers. Recently this worry has begun to focus on the emergence of South East Asian youth gangs. However there exists little empirical information on either the relationship between gangs and drugs or on S.E. Asian youth gangs. Therefore, it is our intention to conduct a 36 month exploratory descriptive study of drug use and sales amongst S.E. Asian youth street gangs. Our plan is to identify all the known S.E. Asian youth gangs in San Jose and then, using ethnographic methods and S.E. Asian researchers, develop sufficient rapport with gang members, to conduct short-term field observations of their turf and undertake interviews with selected respondents. Having completed the systematic field observations, we plan to interview 100 gang members. Utilizing both a quantitative pre-coded schedule and an in-depth focused interview guide, both instruments having been developed in a previous study on gangs and drugs, we will explore: the history and general activities of gangs; the patterns of drug use; the patterns of drug sales; the use of weapons; inter-gang relationships and especially conflict and violence. The information from these interviews will be used in conjunction with field observations, information from the San Jose narcotics/violent crimes unit and from other San Jose city officials, information from community activists and residents and finally information from drug prevention specialists.
