Research Paper on Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America

Introduction

William Garriott's Book, Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America, provides a comprehensive analysis of the polemical issues on methamphetamine responses and crisis that the American society and judiciary have experienced. Garriott opts to utilize a chronological approach on the American laws to depict the complex practices and ideas that the judiciary uses on the War on Drugs. As a result, Garriott reflects on the 1914 Harrison Act and the Patriot Act of 2006 as some of the key policies the legislature has implemented to curb drug usage and trafficking in rural America. For instance, the Harrison Act recommended that taxation should be used to regulate drugs while the Patriot Act imposed more fines for the production and possession of methamphetamine. Consequently, the legal systems and police in the US have the obligation of addressing the narcotics issue through directed adjudication and drug enforcement initiatives on drug offenders.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Garriott claims that three major principles influence the American authorities' policing practices and responses to drugs. Firstly, the authorities target the drugs and their effects rather than incorporating effective actions. The approach emphasizes on issuing threats through its laws rather than punishing the crime. The federal and state authorities claim that approach will assist in combatting drugs by limiting their availability. Secondly, the police might be the most visible enforcement agents in the fight against drugs. However, there are various agents and policing methods being applied to regulate drugs in the USA (LaFlamme, 2013). Thirdly, the perception that drug distribution and use is linked to criminality depicts the most significant notion. As a result, illicit trafficking drugs is viewed as a risk factor that should be mitigated swiftly rather than immoral behavior that should be rebuked. The three ideas have led to the emergence of various practices and measures, such as drug sweeps and drug testing to regulate drugs.

In the 21st Century, the increased use of methamphetamine became a contentious issue in the American society that it requires a swift intervention from the authorities. Therefore, Garriott offers a fascinating account of the response to the methamphetamine menace that has altered and influenced fundament political and social processes in the USA. Using Foucault's Biopower Theories, Garriott assesses the critical changes in police power and legal culture on the narcopolitics' system. The narcopolitics approach exemplifies a form of governance that priorities responses to social problems arising from narcotics (Garriott, 2011). Garriott accounts are set in the countryside in West Virginia to illustrate methamphetamine's detrimental effects on society. He uses different data sources such as participant observations, informal conversations, legal documents, court proceedings, and interviews to outline methamphetamine's impact to the user's lives as well as the legal and social institutions.

The emotional, mental, and physical impact of methamphetamine on the extensive social system and individuals has altered several vital aspects of the society and law. Garriott defines a society that is profoundly concerned about the methamphetamine crisis. The growing concerns have led to the expectations that citizens should perform regular policing tasks and surveillance. The routine police work that has been delegated to the citizens include: providing intelligence on suspicious physical appearance and behaviors of their relatives, co-workers or neighbors (Shapira, 2017). Furthermore, citizens have to report the purchases of certain materials, the presence of suggestive manufacturing activities and compel children to consent to drug tests. As a result, the teachers, business owners, retail cashiers, Adopt-a-Highway volunteers, state road employees, and parents are obliged to implement the new policing rules. The localized policing method creates social apprehension and illustrates the loss of previous tranquil rural lifestyle.

Methamphetamine has altered the American justice system. For instance, the legal system has created provisions where one can be arrested, prosecuted, and convicted for crimes committed or planning to commit a felony, for example, selling methamphetamine (Quintero, 2012). Besides, a new milieu has been incorporated where the culprit of the intent is not a specific individual, but a state. Such a legal change depicts a major alteration in the justice system that does not redress the crimes committed, but the probable threats linked to the enforcement and enactment of the narcotics possession rules.

Incorporation of psychological and addiction models are common features in the contemporary criminal justice practice. The endorsement implies that the intractable and chronic methamphetamine addiction determines the primary model that identifies criminals, explains crime, suggests ways to prevent and punish crime. The different case studies that Garriott examines reveal the connection between crime, addiction, and the legal processes' logical implications. Additionally, the severity of the methamphetamine problems and the uncertainty of the rehabilitation treatment has justified the imprisonment of some of the addicts (Shukla, 2012). The chronic addiction combined with the criminal recidivism expectations is used to create a perception that imprisonment is a better option compared to treatment. According to Garriott (2011), rehabilitation might be unsuccessful, but incarceration will provide a sustainable solution in mitigating the crime rates in society. The legal experts and state police have constructed the impression that methamphetamine users are irredeemable and chronic criminals rather than addressing the issue comprehensively. Hence, pessimism from the legal specialists and police reveals the little faith that citizens have on their social institutions.

Garriott provides an interesting insight into various fundamental social processes. For instance, in one case study, Garriott highlights the dynamic change in societal sentiment when the justice system focuses on an unidentified drug peddler. The community initially advocates for stringent mechanisms to punish the drug dealer. However, the public becomes compassionate when they realize that the anonymous drug peddler being prosecuted is an individual from their community. Moreover, the book utilizes descriptive ethnography to exemplify how the new strategies used to curb methamphetamine usage are being exploited to support pre-existing social stratification. For example, the legal justice process identifies, charges, and imprisons most of the suspects from most marginalized communities. Conversely, children from prestigious backgrounds enjoy alternatives that their colleagues from marginalized societies are not entitled to (Quintero, 2012). As a result, youths from affluent families are subjected to home drug tests supervised by their parent to avoid police surveillance and the legal system's scrutiny.

Conclusion

In brief, some literary critics may wish Garriott could have provided more analytical descriptions and interviews on the lives of the methamphetamine users. Likewise, other critics may desire great conceptual oriented scrutiny to depict a clear impression of the social change, governance, and power in the rural West Virginia setting. Besides, medical anthropology analysts might like to have a thorough evaluation of the poultry industry's role in spreading the methamphetamine crisis in the countryside Appalachian society. There are no clear anthropological perceptions to guide legal experts and policymakers to implement effective policies to mitigate methamphetamine addiction in rural communities. The reader is left with a stark and uncomfortable impression that the crisis is too large for the dysfunctional social and legal responses to counter the seductive methamphetamine crisis. Hence, Garriott exposes the pressure between the competitive cultural models used to understand addiction and criminality in the upcountry society by assessing the intricate issues on individual and collective responsibility.

References

Garriott, W. (2011). Policing methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in rural America. New York: New York University Press.

LaFlamme, M. (2013). William Garriott. Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America. New York: New York University Press, 2011. North American Dialogue, 16(1), 43-45. doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4819.2012.01055.x

Quintero, G. (2012). "Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America" (review). Anthropological Quarterly, 85(1), 297-300. doi: 10.1353/anq.2012.0006

Shapira, H. (2017). e8.2 Book Review - Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America by William Garriott. Retrieved from http://hemisphericinstitute.org/hemi/e-misferica-82/1139-policing-methamphetamine-narcopolitics-in-rural-america-by-william-garriott.html

Shukla, R. (2012). Policing Methamphetamine: Narcopolitics in Rural America - Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Book Reviews. Retrieved from https://clcjbooks.rutgers.edu/books/policing-methamphetamine/