Based on five contemporary studies of adolescent drug use, night-clubbers, and new young heroin users, the author explains that, while young hard drug users rely on "real" drug dealers, the vast majority of young drug users do not. Instead, they rely on friendship and acquaintance chains and networks to "sort" each other out and to put physical and social distance between themselves and drug dealers from the criminal world. While this means a significant minority of young people in Great Britain are drug suppliers, in practice few are apprehended because drug transactions take place in the semi-private social space of the young people where they are largely condoned. Thus far, informal transactions at the point of consumption have kept recreational and heavy-end drug arenas apart. However, the author notes there are indications that purposeful heroin distribution and marketing are penetrating the recreational drug setting and are recruiting a new generation of susceptible heroin users. 22 references, 9 notes, and 1 figure