To some extent, any violence related to drug market activity and relationships is a product of the need to resolve commercial disputes in illegitimate ways; however, recent research discussed in this paper suggests that the relative stability of a particular drug market further influences the likelihood that violence will be used to resolve such disputes. This paper also shows that more research must be done in this area. To contribute to further study of the relationship between systemic drug-related violence and drug-market stability, this paper proposes a conceptual framework for examining drug-market stability. The authors argue that to understand this relationship, it is necessary to be able to measure market stability as both interactional and structural. Specifically, the paper conceptualizes stable markets as those that have dealing operations adhering to a business model of organization and emphasizing social interactions that occur within the market, such as those between sellers and buyers or dealers and workers. Unstable markets are conceptualized as those that have dealing operations run by freelance entrepreneurs who commonly relate to others with whom they are in competition for customers and for the resources of the market. Although suggesting that systemic drug-related violence is more likely to occur in drug markets that are unstable, the authors do not claim to offer empirical evidence that proves this hypothesis. Rather, this paper proposes a way to conceptualize the relationship for future research and demonstrates that such research is needed. 42 references