Organization and Operation of Illicit Retail Methamphetamine Markets

• NCJ Number: 239087
• Journal: Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 23 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2012 Pages: 67-89
• Author(s): Henry H. Brownstein; Timothy M. Mulcahy; Johannes Fernandes-Huessy; Bruce G. Taylor; Daniel Woods
• Date Published: March 2012
• Length: 23 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1R21DA024391-01
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the characteristics and dynamics of illicit retail methamphetamine markets in U.S. communities.

Abstract

Illicit drug markets vary organizationally and operationally in terms of things like the product being bought and sold, the community and population being served, the people engaged in the business, and the extent to which the market has matured. In this paper the authors used data from a survey of 1,367 law enforcement agencies to examine the characteristics and dynamics of illicit retail methamphetamine markets in U.S. communities. The authors describe the characteristics of those markets and they distinguish different types of communities in terms of the characteristics of their local meth markets. Despite finding similarity in the organizational and operational characteristics of methamphetamine markets in the United States, the authors found variability in terms of the source of production of meth for the local market (local labs and importing from Mexico and other U.S. States) and the extent to which local police consider meth to be a local problem. (Published Abstract)