In its steady march across the United States, methamphetamine has become, to quote former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, “the most dangerous drug in America.” As a result, there has been a concerted effort at the local level to root out the methamphetamine problem by identifying the people at its source—those known or suspected to be involved with methamphetamine. Government-sponsored anti-methamphetamine legislation has enhanced these local efforts, formally and informally encouraging rural residents to identify meth offenders in their communities. Policing Methamphetamine shows what happens in everyday life—and to everyday life—when methamphetamine becomes an object of collective concern. Drawing on interviews with users, police officers, judges, and parents and friends of addicts in one West Virginia town, William Garriott finds that this overriding effort to confront the problem changed the character of the community as well as the role of law in creating and maintaining social order. Ultimately, this work addresses the impact of methamphetamine and, more generally, the war on drugs, on everyday life in the United States.

How the War on Drugs is maintained through racism,authority and public opinion. From the hit television series Breaking Bad, to daily news reports, anti-drug advertising campaigns and highly publicized world-wide hunts for “narcoterrorists” such as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the drug, methamphetamine occupies a unique and important space in the public’s imagination. In Meth Wars, Travis Linnemann situates the "meth epidemic" within the broader culture and politics of drug control and mass incarceration. Linnemann draws together a range of examples and critical interdisciplinary scholarship to show how methamphetamine, and the drug war more generally, are part of a larger governing strategy that animates the politics of fear and insecurity and links seemingly unrelated concerns such as environmental dangers, the politics of immigration and national security, policing tactics, and terrorism. The author’s unique analysis presents a compelling case for how the supposed “meth epidemic” allows politicians, small town police and government counter-narcotics agents to engage in a singular policing project in service to the broader economic and geostrategic interests of the United States.

This book fills a void in the literature by examining from a scientific perspective the official police response to drugs, drug use, abuse, and dealing and how the different levels of police agencies process drug cases. Current drug texts simply do not address the drug problem from a criminal justice or criminological perspective in a clear, consistent fashion. At the beginning of each chapter, a series of critical thinking questions is provided. Throughout each chapter, a series of tables, figures, and charts are used to illustrate themes considered. With these items, critical thinking questions are included below each respective item. The text also makes use of Internet technology, inasmuch as students are referred to recommended Internet sites throughout each chapter. Many of these Internet sites deal with pharmacological and biological aspects of drug use. Three unique pedagogical features of the book will help students learn various drug-related issues. First, a box insert titled 'In the Streets' appears in each chapter that includes a discussion about some aspects of drug use related to the chapter's focus. A second box titled 'Tabloid Justice' also appears in each chapter discussing a particular celebrity's battles with drug abuse as it was considered in the press. A third box, 'Drugs and Research,' in each chapter highlights a specific drug study that should be of interest to students. This book will appeal to a number of criminal justice, criminology, and sociology program courses on drug abuse. Professionals interested in learning more about the criminal justice response to the drug problem, as well as police academies may also find the book useful.

"SHARDS is Allison Moore's first-person account of her life as a Hawaii vice cop who became addicted to meth, deceived her entire police department, and led her to a life of prostitution, torture, prison, and, ultimately, rehabilitation and redemption"--