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Home Cooking: Marketing Meth

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Home Cooking: Marketing Meth

Henry H. Brownstein, Timothy M. Mulcahy, Bruce G. Taylor, Johannes Fernandes-Huessy and Carol Hafford
Contexts 2012 11: 30
DOI: 10.1177/1536504212436493

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marketing home cooking

meth
photo by Michael Roedel

by henry h. brownstein, timothy m. mulcahy, bruce g. taylor, johannes fernandes-huessy, and carol hafford

30 contexts.org
In small town in South Carolina, a group of acquaintances meet at the
home of a methamphetamine “cook,” waiting for him to prepare a
batch so they can sit around and get high together. In rural Virginia,
a user knocks on her neighbor’s door to borrow the equivalent of “a
cup” of meth. In Oregon, a local dealer has fathered three children
with three different women, each of whom is a customer.
Across the nation, meth dealers and users share personal infor- narcotics detectives in 50 different communities. We have vis-
mation and secret codes, using cell phones and text messag- ited more than 28 towns and cities in five regions of the coun-
ing to arrange times and places for the exchange of drugs for try to speak with public health and safety officials, local drug
money. While crack cocaine dealers sell their product on street treatment providers, prevention specialists, social service work-
corners to anyone who can pay for it, meth dealers prefer to do ers, family service providers, meth users and dealers, and others
business with those they know. whose lives are impacted by meth.
The negative health and safety consequences of meth use What we’ve learned is that methamphetamine markets are
are well known. Whether injected, snorted, or smoked, the different from other illicit drug markets, and that the organiza-
psychostimulant has acute physiological effects: cardiovascular tion of meth markets varies wildly. We found American towns
problems, emaciation, and brain damage, as well as psycholog- and cities in which meth is produced and distributed in small
ical effects such as anxiety and paranoia. For abusers, poor per- “mom-and-pop” labs that cater to personal acquaintances,
sonal hygiene and financial ruin are common, as is violence and others in which meth is imported by large corporate-type orga-
the neglect of children. But we know far less about how meth nizations selling to users through locals they know and trust,
markets are organized, how different kinds of markets impact and areas where both types of markets operate. Perhaps the
their communities, and how personal relationships shape and most important thing we learned is that no matter how it is
are influenced by the kinds of markets that emerge. organized and operated, methamphetamine distribution is per-
Our group of researchers has been exploring these ques- sonal. To understand the dynamics of meth markets, we needed
tions for the past few years. We’ve surveyed 1,367 police to work to understand the people who comprise them.
agencies in the United States and conducted interviews with
the rise of meth
The Meth Project’s Paint the State contest emblazoned these
In his best-selling book, Methland, journalist Nick Reding
messages throughout Montana and Idaho. described a small town in rural Iowa. Meatpacking jobs had

Contexts, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 30-35. ISSN 1536-5042, electronic ISSN 1537-6052. © 2012 American
Sociological Association. http://contexts.sagepub.com. DOI 10.1177/1536504212436493 winter 2012 contexts 31
 Photo by William Rahr Fortna
disappeared and local family farms were replaced by agri-busi- For the next decade and a half, American methamphet-
nesses offering low-wage jobs. As workers in these new jobs amine production was almost exclusively the work of local
sought to find ways to boost their energy in order to work dou- cooks who mixed batches using readily available hardware store
ble shifts and support themselves and their families, another and pharmacy chemicals. But starting in 2005, federal and state
new industry took root in the area: methamphetamine. governments introduced laws limiting public access to a key
Methamphetamine is a central nervous system stimu- ingredient in meth production: over-the-counter pseudoephed-
lant first synthesized in Japan in 1919 for use in treating nasal rine, the active ingredient in a number of common cold medi-
cines. This legislation again slowed meth
The negative health consequences of meth use production in much of the U.S., but this
time Mexican drug cartels responded by
are well known. We know far less about how adding methamphetamine to their inven-

meth markets are organized. tory. The new restrictions also prompted
local cooks to collectivize meth produc-
tion, leading to the formation of “mom-
decongestion, hay fever, and even common colds. It arrived in and-pop” labs where users pooled their limited supplies in order
the U.S. in the 1930s and became widely available after it was to produce meth for common use.
distributed to soldiers during World War II to keep them atten-
tive. Meth became popular during the 1950s as an alertness or mom-and-pop labs
weight-loss aid—especially among college students, athletes, In some localities, particularly in smaller communities and
and truck drivers. Recreational use increased during the 1960s, in the central part of the country, meth production is now
and over time, its dangers became more apparent. In 1970, the dominated by “mom-and-pop” labs in which individuals pro-
Drug Abuse and Regulation Control Act set standards for secu- duce and distribute methamphetamine for personal use, lim-
rity and recordkeeping for pharmaceuticals including meth, iting sales to a trusted few friends and acquaintances. These
and use declined. But by the 1990s, the materials and meth- organizations resemble social clubs: a husband and wife team
ods needed for manufacturing meth in small clandestine labs and their friends, a guy and his buddies. In a rural town in Vir-
became more available, especially in the western and rural U.S. ginia, one young woman described people she knew as getting

32 contexts.org
 Photo by David Johnsen
Photo by Paul Gorman
together in a “drug club kind of thing.” via the interstate, and from Mexico.” The manufacturing of
In “every lab we run across,” says a narcotics detective in meth has been outsourced.
the rural Southeast, “there is some sort of nexus,” a division of
labor in which some are responsible for shopping for pseudo- importing
ephedrine, and others for cooking the meth. They all know each In the West, and increasingly in small towns and villages in
other: “It’s a vast, vast network of [local] individuals.” Similarly, the southeastern and mid-Atlantic states, import markets like
in a small Arkansas town, a police officer told us: “It’s just one those that once characterized the cocaine trade now dominate:
big circle,” he says, in which people “pool their resources and meth is manufactured in Mexico (or, sometimes, California) and
buy as many packs of ephedrine as they
can.” And a narcotics detective from rural
South Carolina described local small time
Though personal ties are central to the
labs and the people who inhabit them organization of meth markets, the drug often
saying, “These people are all networked...
They have something in common. They destroys the ties that bind.
work together, they’re family members, or
they’re friends. They all know each other. It’s very seldom you’ll distributed by locals for direct sale to their acquaintances. In a
find someone that no one knows show up and buy meth.” small city in the Pacific Northwest in which the Mexican com-
In a small Southern community, local cooks recruit people to munity is well-established and Mexican and native whites seem
buy “precursor” chemicals, paying them in cash or with drugs. relatively comfortable with one another, there is a brisk trade
“They’ll make a loop, a daytrip, where they will drive to six or in meth. Here, Mexican drug cartels employ a dispatcher to
seven counties and go to all the Wal-Marts or drugstores in the work with local dealers and users. “They call him and order up
area and buy two or three boxes of Sudafed or other supplies,” what they want,” according to a detective. In areas like these,
a detective explains. They bring the supplies back to the cooks, methamphetamine markets tend to be highly structured, with
who mix up enough meth for them to use and sell. “It’s loosely well-defined lines of responsibility and authority.
organized, but it is organized,” he says. Though there are very few organizations he has been able
In the central part of the country—in states like Illinois, to track criminally, the detective told us, “It’s easy to figure out
Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky—meth markets who’s working for who.” Locals obtain the meth from Mexican
are centered in such small-scale, mom-and-pop operations. In suppliers, break it down, and distribute it to their underlings.
contrast, in Western states—Arizona, California, Nevada, Ore- “These subordinates will go out and make the street sales, and
gon, and Washington—where meth has been around longer, bring the money back to the main distributors, who take a cut
the drug is more likely to be imported. In other places, particu- off it and then use the profits to buy more supplies.”
larly in the mid-Atlantic or Southeastern states such as Georgia, The transportation of meth through these import commu-
Virginia, and North Carolina, no one type of market predomi- nities also tends to be highly organized. In one Southeastern hub
nates. A sheriff’s officer in Georgia noted that the mom-and- for the East coast, high quality meth moves from Mexico through
pop labs had been more prevalent in his community before Texas, where it is loaded onto the trucks of drivers who pick up
the precursor laws (those that limited and tracked purchases of and drop off unscheduled packages in exchange for cash. Pack-
over-the-counter drugs, fertilizers, and other meth ingredients) ages are left at designated locations, where someone collects
went into effect. Now, more meth is imported “via the parcel, them, and then workers divide them into smaller packages for

winter 2012 contexts 33

 Photo by Robin Thom
distribution to local dealers or for further transport. On the West Mexican distributors then recruit local white residents to sell
coast, the organization is similar, though customized cars, rather smaller quantities to other local (white) users. While dealers
than trucks, are used to move the product. and users in import markets do not have to be friends to do
While meth markets with product imported from Mexico business with one another, they do have to be comfortable
are more businesslike than mom-and-pop lab markets, they are with one another.
What makes meth’s sales network so

Meth markets are personal—particularly different from those of other illicit drugs
is that, in almost all areas and in all types
compared to traditional markets for other of markets, personal relationships are key.
When asked if it would be possible for a
illicit drugs, such as crack cocaine. stranger to purchase meth in his area, a
law enforcement officer in a Southwest-
still personal, particularly when compared to traditional mar- ern community echoed the words of police, users, and dealers
kets for other illicit drugs, such as crack cocaine. In a meth across the country: “There’s a possibility you might run into
market located in a small mid-Atlantic city, a white dealer (who one idiot or something that would sell, but not very likely. If
started as a user) describes the Mexican sellers as “a pretty somebody introduced you, you might get in. If you come in
tight group.” But local white buyers don’t trust them, he said. here cold, you’re not going to [get any meth].”
Because Mexican immigrants are recent arrivals to the small This is to say, in local mom-and-pop labs, the cooks
towns and cannot sell directly to white users, they serve as dis- who sell the meth and their customers are family, friends, or
tributors of large quantities of crystal meth, typically a purer acquaintances. But even when meth is imported by Mexican
product than the powder or paste sold by local cooks. The cartels, distributed locally by recent immigrants from Mexico

34 contexts.org
 and sold to native white users with whom they are not per- process expose themselves and others, including children, to
sonally acquainted, transactions only take place when a per- health and safety risks: noxious vapors, chemical explosions,
sonal connection provides a sense of trust between seller and filth, domestic violence, and sexual abuse and child neglect.
the buyer. Import markets can be a source of income in an economically
depressed area, but when those who do not know or trust
the weakness of strong ties each other come together for an illicit meth transaction the
Though personal ties are central to the organization of potential for misunderstanding, conflict, and even violence is
meth markets, the drug often destroys the ties that bind. Meth exacerbated.
is, after all, illegal, and can harm or even kill people. Partici- Policymakers, who typically think about illicit drug markets
pants in illicit drug markets typically confront rapid turnover as commercial ventures or criminal enterprises, tend to develop
in the people they deal with, overlapping markets of buyers policies and programs that target the local economy and pub-
and sellers, huge variations in price and quality within a narrow lic safety. While this is important, in the case of methamphet-
geographic area, and lack of lawful authority governing market amine, it doesn’t go far enough. To meaningfully address the
transactions. Because disputes over market share or product proliferation of this home-cooked drug, we must begin with
quality cannot be settled by legal means, market participants the web of personal relationships that structure its manufac-
are often victimized by other dealers and users, or become vic- ture, distribution, and use.
tims of unsavory competitors and collaborators.
In the 1980s, when crack cocaine markets ruled rundown recommended readings
neighborhoods in urban America, young dealers frequently Brownstein, Henry H., Timothy M. Mulcahy, Bruce G. Taylor,
killed each other over territorial disputes, and buyers and sell- Johannes Fernandes-Huessy, and Daniel Woods. “The Organiza-
tion and Operation of Illicit Retail Drug Markets,” Criminal Justice
ers fought over the quality of the product. In meth markets, Policy Review (forthcoming). Presents findings from the survey
dealers and users tend to know each other, so the chance an phase of our study on methamphetamine markets in America.
exchange will turn violent is somewhat lower. In Utah a narcot- Haight, Wendy, Teresa Ostler, James Black, and Linda Kingery.
ics detective told us that “the competition isn’t great because Children of Methamphetamine-Involved Families: The Case of
Rural Illinois (Oxford University Press, 2008). Illustrates the impact
[local cooks] just don’t have a very good product.” He expects
of methamphetamine involvement on families and children in
that renewed competition will lead “people [to] battle [it] out rural Illinois in the 1990’s.
with pricing,” as opposed to violence. Still, a narcotics detec- National Research Council, Commission on Behavioral and ­Social
tive from a town in New Mexico talked about having ”seen Sciences and Education. Informing America’s Policy on Illegal
some violence.” Meth is “the most violent drug” because the Drugs: What We Don’t Know Keeps Hurting Us (National Acad-
emy Press, 2001). A report prepared by the NRC’s Committee
users, he notes, are often paranoid. on Law and Justice and the Committee on National Statistics to
“[Meth] ruins people,” says a detective who spent many assess existing data sources and contemporary research on illegal
years working with meth users in a Southwestern community. drugs.
“I bet everybody that’s hooked on meth does not have a family Reding, Nick. Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small
anymore—mother, father, grandfather, wife, children—nobody Town (Bloomsbury, 2009). Examines the impact of methamphet-
amine on a rural community in the Midwest.
wants anything to do with them because they can’t control
Weisheit, Ralph and William L. White. Methamphetamine—Its
them.” A woman in Virginia who used meth for many years History, Pharmacology and Treatment (Hazelden, 2009). Provides
called it “a family drug,” and explained that she’d exposed her a comprehensive overview of methamphetamine and related
children to other users and dealers. Eventually, they became problems in the United States.
meth users themselves. A treatment provider working at a family
services center outside of a city in the Pacific Northwest agreed, Henry H. Brownstein, Timothy M. Mulcahy, Bruce G. Taylor, Johannes
telling us, “We’re treating second and third generation families Fernandes-Huessy, and Carol Hafford are with NORC at the University of
here now. Over the last 15 years we’re seeing children and even Chicago. Together they have studied meth users and markets across the country.
grandchildren [of past clients] coming in for treatment.” Their research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), though
The way a particular illicit drug market is organized and the analysis and conclusions are their own.
operates impacts those who participate in it. It also impacts
the people around them. Cooks and users in local mom-and-
pop meth labs bring together family, friends, and buddies
from close-knit social networks in order to get high, and in the

winter 2012 contexts 35

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