The Methamphetamine Industry in America

Transnational Cartels and Local Entrepreneurs

By Henry H Brownstein, Timothy M. Mulcahy, and Johannes Huessy

SERIES: Critical Issues in Crime and Society

Rutgers University Press

Galax, a small Virginia town at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was one of the first places that Henry H. Brownstein, Timothy M. Mulcahy, and Johannes Huessy visited for their study of the social dynamics of methamphetamine markets—and what they found changed everything. They had begun by thinking of methamphetamine markets as primarily small-scale mom-and-pop businesses operated by individual cooks who served local users. But what they found was a thriving and complex transnational industry.

The Methamphetamine Industry in America describes the reality that this industry is a social phenomenon connecting local, national, and international communities and markets. The book details the results of a groundbreaking three-stage study, part of a joint initiative of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Justice, in which police agencies across the United States were surveyed and their responses used to identify likely areas of study. The authors then visited these areas to observe and interview local participants, from users and dealers to law enforcement officers and clinical treatment workers.

This book demonstrates the importance of understanding the business of methamphetamine—and by extension other drugs in society—through a lens that focuses on social behavior, social relationships, and the cultural elements that shape the organization and operation of this illicit but effective industry.
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Excellently written, logical, and coherent, The Methamphetamine Industry in America is an exemplary book that is quite unique in focusing exclusively on the macro-scale methamphetamine industry. Thomas Mieczkowski, University of South Florida

The Methamphetamine Industry in America is best described as Breaking Bad from a sociological perspective. Contemporary Sociology

This multi-method study of the social networks involved in the distribution and manufacture of methamphetamine provides a level of understanding unmatched in previous research. Using multiple sources, the authors masterfully weave a tale that reflects the complexities of the business while using personal stories to present a human face on larger social processes. Dr. Ralph A. Weisheit, Illinois State University

Brownstein, Mulcahy, and Huessy weave interviews with users, dealers, producers, and law enforcement professionals involved in the methamphetamine drug trade to give readers a vision of the local, national, and international drug industry. The authors adopt a social organization approach to identify and analyze social patterns among the people involved in the meth trade. Useful for professionals responsible for prevention and treatment services and enforcement of drug laws as well as students in these areas. Recommended. Choice

Excellently written, logical, and coherent, The Methamphetamine Industry in America is an exemplary book that is quite unique in focusing exclusively on the macro-scale methamphetamine industry. Thomas Mieczkowski, University of South Florida

The Methamphetamine Industry in America is best described as Breaking Bad from a sociological perspective. Contemporary Sociology

This multi-method study of the social networks involved in the distribution and manufacture of methamphetamine provides a level of understanding unmatched in previous research. Using multiple sources, the authors masterfully weave a tale that reflects the complexities of the business while using personal stories to present a human face on larger social processes. Dr. Ralph A. Weisheit, Illinois State University

Brownstein, Mulcahy, and Huessy weave interviews with users, dealers, producers, and law enforcement professionals involved in the methamphetamine drug trade to give readers a vision of the local, national, and international drug industry. The authors adopt a social organization approach to identify and analyze social patterns among the people involved in the meth trade. Useful for professionals responsible for prevention and treatment services and enforcement of drug laws as well as students in these areas. Recommended. Choice

HENRY H. BROWNSTEIN is associate dean for research and professor and director of the Center for Public Policy at the Wilder School for Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has written extensively on drug markets and is the author of four books, including The Problems of Living in Society.

TIMOTHY M. MULCAHY is a program area director in the Economics, Labor, and Population Studies Department at NORC at the University of Chicago, and was co-investigator of the methamphetamine market study.

JOHANNES HUESSY is a principal research analyst at NORC at the University of Chicago and research associate for the methamphetamine market study.

Preface

Acknowledgments

1Understanding Methamphetamine Markets as an Industry

2Methamphetamine in America

3Social Activity in the Methamphetamine Industry

4Social Relationships in the Methamphetamine Industry

5 The Culture of the Methamphetamine Industry

6Meth Markets and the Methamphetamine Industry in the United States

Appendix: The Study of the Dynamics of Methamphetamine Markets

References

Index