Drugs in Rural and Remote Communities: Examining the Role of Locational Context and Cultural Geography (Organized by the Division of Rural Criminology)

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Research has highlighted a number of characteristics specific to the rural and regional context which appear to aggravate an individual’s risk of harm from substance use. Likewise, scholars have pointed to a number of locational factors which shape how drug markets form, drugs are trafficked and ‘justice’ is pursued in rural and remote locations. To this end, this panel explores the role of locational context and cultural geography in shaping the ways in which drugs are produced, trafficked, used and responded to in rural setting and, more importantly, how this may shape the ways in which we engage with drugs and rural risk.

Sub Unit

• Area III. Types of Offending / 14. Drugs

Individual Presentations

• The Opioid Hydra: Identifying Opioid-Use Mortality Epidemics and Syndemics Across Space - David Peters, Iowa State University; Shannon Monnat, Syracuse University; Andy Hochstetler, Iowa State University

• Where’s the Safety Net?: How Stripping Social Programming Increases Drug Overdose Deaths in Rural Communities - Stephen Toppings Young, Marshall University; Brian Pitman, Pacific Lutheran University

• An ‘Ice Age’ in the Outback? Problematising the Rural ‘Meth Epidemic’ in Australia - Natalie Thomas, University of New England

• The Entanglement of Criminal Justice, Public Health Management and Social Order in Rural New York State: a Public Defender’s Experiential Perspective - Stephanie Batcheller, New York State Defenders Association, Defender Institute Basic Trial Skills Program