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Above the Law’: Changes in Methamphetamine Laws and the Deterrent Impact on Market-Involved Women

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Abstract

Growing concern over the use and manufacture of methamphetamine in the United States prompted federal and state legislatures to more strictly regulate precursor agents and to increase penalties for its possession. While criminologists are generally skeptical of the deterrent effect of increased sanctions on crime rates, there is some evidence at the macro-level that these legislative changes have been effective. There is less clear-cut evidence of the micro-level impact of such laws. Drawing from interviews with 38 women methamphetamine users in Missouri, I explore the impact of recent changes in methamphetamine-related laws on their use and market behavior. The results provide insight into how law filters down to the individual level, including the relevance of accurate understanding of laws, and may give some indication as to the potential effectiveness of increasingly punitive policies.

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Notes

  1. While the decrease in the number of methamphetamine labs seized may be evidence that such legislative changes were effective (see McBride, Terry-McElrath, Chriqui, O’Connor, VanderWaal, & Mattson, 2011), it could also be the case that such decreases actually represent a shift to alternative methods of manufacturing the drug, such as the “one pot” or “shake and bake” methods, which involve much smaller (and often portable) labs and fewer necessary ingredients.

  2. While a number of scholars have called for a broader view of deterrence which would also account for other extralegal ‘punishments’ that influence people’s actions such as attachments to significant others (e.g., Ekland-Olson, Lieb, & Zurcher, 1984; Grasmick & Bursik, 1990; Williams & Hawkins, 1986), here I focus only on legal sanctions.

  3. An important exception is Patricia Morgan and Karen Joe’s research. In their study of methamphetamine use in California and Hawaii, they report a “surprising” number of women in their sample who were involved in “large-scale manufacture and/or distribution” of methamphetamine (Morgan & Joe, 1997 p. 98). However, they also note that this more extensive involvement tended to be temporary (i.e., typically lasting less than a year) and required partnership with others, usually an intimate partner.

  4. For example, data from the 2012 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) indicate that approximately 1.2 million persons (0.4 % of the U.S. population) had used methamphetamine within the previous 12 months (SAMHSA, 2013c). Data from emergency room (DAWN) and treatment providers (TEDS) also demonstrate that meth continues to have an impact on public health (SAMHSA, 2013a, 2013b).

  5. While all states require that ephedrine sales be logged, Missouri is one of a handful of states in the country that has implemented electronic tracking laws. In 2010, the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx) was put into place. This electronic tracking system centralizes ephedrine and PSE sales data to try and prevent individuals traveling from store to store, each time purchasing the legal limit of PSE.

  6. Until the implementation of the electronic tracking system, and perhaps even today, it would have been possible to purchase more PSE than allowed under law and face criminal charges at a later time.

  7. While they relied on an interview guide for many of the questions, interviewers were able to pursue interesting topics when they arose. At the same time, the semi-structured nature of the interviews also meant that occasionally questions were not asked in precisely the same manner across all participants or, in a few cases, were skipped entirely. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to determine the exact number of women who, for example, quit using meth as a direct result of changes in legislation.

  8. In total, 40 women were interviewed for the overall project (see Carbone-Lopez & Miller, 2012 for additional details on the sample selection). One of the women was excluded from the present analyses because she was nearing the end of a 15-year sentence and therefore would be unable to speak to recent legislative changes. The other was excluded because it was unclear how long she had been incarcerated on her current charges.

  9. In the findings, I try where possible to provide the number of women who specifically endorse particular opinions or who fit the pattern described. In other cases, however, I use more traditional qualitative descriptors such as “most” or “the majority” (referring to more than half of the participants); “many” (referring to a sizeable minority, more than one-third); “some” (referring to a quarter or more); or “a few” (referring to themes mentioned by a small number of participants, but more than two).

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by a University of Missouri Research Board award. The author would like to thank Robert Bursik, Jody Miller, Lee Slocum, and TJ Taylor for their helpful comments.

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  1. University of Missouri, St. Louis, One University Boulevard, 324 Lucas Hall, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA

    Kristin Carbone-Lopez

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Correspondence to Kristin Carbone-Lopez.

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Carbone-Lopez, K. Above the Law’: Changes in Methamphetamine Laws and the Deterrent Impact on Market-Involved Women. Am J Crim Just 40, 682–701 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-014-9281-3

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