Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America

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.

Author: William Garriott
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 03/07/2011
Pages: 201
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.63lbs
Size: 8.95h x 6.00w x 0.56d
ISBN: 9780814732403

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2011
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2011 pg. 100

About the Author
William Garriott is an anthropologist who is Associate Professor in the Law, Politics, and Society program at Drake University. He is the author of Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America (NYU Press 2011). He currently serves as coeditor of the book series, Police/Worlds: Studies in Security, Crime, and Governance with Cornell University Press.