Methamphetamine Discourse: Media, Law, and Policy

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, methamphetamine has been identified by Canadian newspaper reporters, police, RCMP, community organizations, city and provincial task forces, and a number of politicians as a new and dangerous drug problem of "epidemic" proportions. Media reports typically suggest that the production of metham-

The multiple truths about crystal meth among young people entrenched in an urban drug scene: A longitudinal ethnographic investigation

“…In contrast, simultaneously using and selling crack or heroin was understood to inevitably result in “doing your own product” and getting into debt with suppliers (the punishment for which is often a brutal physical beating). Similarly, consistent with previous research (Lopez, Jurik et al 2009), young women more often reported using their sexuality to manipulate or “con” men into buying them meth, as opposed to exchanging sex for money or drugs in a desperate attempt to support their meth habit (a construction of female meth users’ sexuality that is prominent in anti-meth ad campaigns and media accounts; Boyd and Carter 2010). Young women in our setting frequently rely on men and boyfriends for access to drugs, including meth.…”

“…In addition to HIV and other blood borne infections (Miller, Kerr et al 2009), research has shown that youth who use meth on the streets are vulnerable to malnutrition (Werb, Kerr et al 2010), overdose (Werb, Kerr et al 2008), incarceration (Milloy, Kerr et al 2009), and serious mental health issues (Farrell and Marsden 2002; Urbina and Jones 2004; Russell, Dryden et al 2008). While the various risks and harms associated with meth are well documented, meth use among youth has also generated a moral panic (Griffiths, Mravcik et al 2008; Boyd and Carter 2010; Linnemann 2010). This is exemplified by sensationalist media accounts and graphic anti-meth advertising campaigns, which often use “before and after” images to depict young people transforming from “responsible,” middleclass youth into emaciated “addicts” and deviant “criminals” (Erceg-Hurn 2008; Linnemann 2010).…”

“…From a risk environment perspective (Rhodes 2002), even the intimate, everyday experience of meth use in a particular locale is the result of a complex interplay of contextual factors operating at multiple levels. For example, in North American settings, macro-level processes of neoliberal economic reform and the war on drugs, and wider cultural beliefs connected to age, class, race and marginality, can intersect with meso-level institutional responses to “the crystal meth problem,” such as anti-meth advertising campaigns that portray young meth users as unhygienic, dangerous and criminal (Boyd and Carter 2010). These macro- and meso-level forces in turn shape, and are shaped by, the ways in which young people themselves understand, experience and script meth use over time in particular drug scenes (Linnemann 2010; Garriott 2013).…”

Reacting to Invasive Species: The Construction of a Moral Panic over Burmese Pythons

“…Social constructionists argue people actively create their social worlds through interaction and language (Berger and Luckmann ). Demeritt () refers to this as “phenomenological constructionism.” This perspective has been used to examine the origins, dimensions, and processes leading to the formation of many social problems, including those where human deviance is central (Boyd and Carter ; Reinarman ; Unnithan ). Further, the constructionist perspective increases our understanding of how people interact with, relate to, and define the concept of nature (Demeritt ; Greider and Garkovich ) along with the origins of social problems involving animals and plants (Arsenault ; Fine ; Goedeke ; Harker and Bates ; Herda‐Rapp and Marotz ; Jerolmack ; Munro ; Scarce , ; Stallings ).…”

Visual and narrative representations of mental health and addiction by law enforcement

“…As Hall (1997) notes, each photo in isolation tells us little about the meaning of the photograph, but all of the photos together in Corey’s story create a timeline—from health to mental illness and addiction—that is supported by the narrative framework. In this context, photographs used to illustrate accompanying narrative “provide a particularly effective shorthand form of discourse” that readers have come to recognize through not only the VDP reports, but through different texts, including news media and popular culture (Boyd & Carter, 2010, p. 228; Hall, 1997). As Hall (1997) notes, visual representations accumulate meaning through repetition.…”