This paper examines whether features of the operation of retail methamphetamine markets affect communities in three domain areas (public safety, health, and economy).
The study uses data from a national survey of law enforcement agencies (n = 1,367) with narcotics officers to examine the operational characteristics of methamphetamine markets. The study found that the operational features of a market (the source of methamphetamine and the most common location for selling methamphetamine) can have a significant impact on the types of public safety, health, and economic programs that communities are experiencing. In particular, jurisdictions distinguished by largely semi-private markets (strip clubs and bars) are more likely to be characterized as localities that have a large public safety and health problem. Jurisdictions that are supplied by multiple local and international sources (compared to a single source) were more likely to be characterized as jurisdictions that have problems in the three domains. (Published Abstract)