NCJ Number
167214
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Dated: (1996) Pages: 75-94
Date Published
1996
Length
20 pages
Annotation
Confidential interviews with 55 members of a rural Kentucky community that serves as a base for the marijuana industry formed the basis of an analysis of the roles of industry participants and community members and the ways in which community structure and culture facilitate this illegal enterprise.
Abstract
The researchers also analyzed the local newspaper for 1984-93 to identify individuals and frequencies of arrests for growing and selling marijuana in Bluegrass Country. Results revealed that the typical rural Kentucky marijuana grower is a white male between ages 35 and 50 who has a high school education and lives in deep or shallow rural areas of Kentucky. He is a member of the social class termed "We Poor Folk". He is almost always married and has at least one child. He is rarely a marijuana user and is often a respected, churchgoing, community leader with strong, longstanding, and extensive community ties. Those involved in the marijuana industry fulfill five distinct roles: communal grower, hustler, pragmatist, young punk and entrepreneur. Community members fulfill one of seven basic roles, each of which facilitates the continued presence and success of the industry. The women of the marijuana industry of the rural communities occupy three distinct roles (decent women, strumpets, and women-in-between), which are evolving with changes in the industry's operations and culture. 35 references (Author abstract modified)