Qualitative Study of Strategies Methamphetamine Market Members Use to Avoid Law Enforcement and Arrest

• In Event: Research on Different Types of Drugs

Abstract

This qualitative study of methamphetamine manufacturers examines how the market members avoid law enforcement while obtaining the ingredients, manufacturing, traveling, and selling. Interviews with 52 members currently or recently involved in methamphetamine markets in a Midwestern state were conducted to understand how individuals manage their illegal activity and prevent police detection. Feminist theory is used to examine differences between men’s and women’s practices. As an illicit substance, methamphetamine is unique in that all the ingredients are legally purchased and the substance is manufactured, so the methods to avoid law enforcement detection are quite different from those used by members of other illicit drug markets.

Author

• Julie Yingling, South Dakota State University