Shake and Bake: Exploring Drug Producers’ Adaptability to Legal Restrictions Through Online Methamphetamine Recipes

Abstract

Despite numerous regulations, methamphetamine consumption persists; its availability has even increased in the United States. Methamphetamine is produced in small labs and super labs that are differentiated by the quantity of drug they generate and by how they are embedded in trafficking networks. The stagnant statistics regarding methamphetamine consumption and lab seizures suggest that laws have been ineffective, partly due to the producers’ adaptability. To understand this adaptation, methamphetamine recipes collected online will be analyzed through a qualitative methodology. Emphasis will be placed on the impact of the American legislation toward synthetic drug production. This article describes how methamphetamine producers have adapted to get around the regulations. The producers synthesize the regulated precursors by extracting them from processed products. To comply with the quotas imposed by law, the producers limit their quantities used. This article suggests that producers keep abreast of legislations and perfect the recipes accordingly.

“The times have changed, the dope has changed”: Women's cooking roles and gender performances in shake methamphetamine markets*

“…This chemical reaction creates a form of meth that many perceive as being of low quality (Copes et al, 2018). Shake is quicker, easier, and less risky to make than other styles of cooking (Vidal & Décary-Hétu, 2018). Using recipes learned from friends or from the Internet, cooks can make the drug nearly anywhere.…”

“…The shake method was “unbeatable” because not only was it easy to learn, but it was also easy to get the ingredients to cook successfully (Vidal & Décary‐Hétu, ). Everything needed to produce shake could be purchased at discount stores with pharmacies, including plastic bottles, aquarium tubing, ammonium nitrate (from cold packs), lye (Drano), camp fuel, lithium strips (batteries), and most importantly, pseudoephedrine.…”

Restrictive Deterrence in Drug Offenses: A Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis of Mixed Studies

“…Drug cultivators who worry about manufacturing charges perceive cooking and purchasing as precursors that could bring about more severe penalties (Carbone-Lopez, 2015 ). The drug producers who face manufacturing charges also have several strategies for getting around legislative restrictions to mitigate charges with more severity, such as replacing purchasing precursors with production (Vidal and Décary-Hétu, 2018 ).…”

Patterns of methamphetamine production among an international sample of methamphetamine ‘cooks’

“…The majority of people receiving injuries from clan labs are the individuals manufacturing the drugs [8], with common injuries including acute inhalation injuries, burns or death following explosions [8,9]. These manufacturers often follow ‘recipes’ found online, earning them the nickname of ‘cooks’ [10,11]. As most clan labs are located in residential neighbourhoods [8], members of the public, including children, are also occasionally victim to chemical exposure associated with nearby clan labs [7,9].…”