The Methamphetamine Industry in America : Transnational Cartels and Local Entrepreneurs /

In this book, part of the "Critical Issues in Crime and Society" series, Brownstein, Mulcahy, and Huessy (all, NORC, Univ. of Chicago) weave interviews with users, dealers, producers, and law enforcement professionals involved in the methamphetamine drug trade to give readers a vision of the local, national, and international drug industry. The authors adopt a social organization approach to identify and analyze social patterns among the people involved in the meth trade. A National Institute on Drug Abuse grant funded the four-year study (2007 to 2011), allowing the authors to engage in a three-stage process involving screening surveys (1,367 police agencies), "open-ended and in-depth telephone interviews" (50 narcotics officers), and site observations and interviews (30 cities and towns in five regions). They note that federal and state interdiction efforts created some issues among meth market participants but also resulted in a rebirth and restructuring of a fragmented industry into a larger, transnational organization that competes with local participants, especially in larger markets. The text provides readers with at least some of the details of the amorphous entity that constitutes the methamphetamine trade in the US. Useful for professionals responsible for prevention and treatment services and enforcement of drug laws as well as students in these areas. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. --Gregory A. Blevins, Governors State University