Abstract
Most criminological research focuses on urban communities, contributing to the assumption that small towns are relatively safe and crime-free environments. Meanwhile, methamphetamine (meth) use has become entrenched in rural parts of the country. In her book Methamphetamine: A Love Story, Rashi K. Shukla sheds light on the understudied world of rural poverty and drug abuse. Through her journey into the darkness, she illustrates poignantly how meth has become central to the lives of some of the residents. In the process of uncovering how and why her participants started their drug using careers, Shukla reveals how the lifestyle surrounding meth use becomes just as addicting as the drug itself and highlights the unsustainability of meth addiction and the struggles associated with quitting. The goals of her book are to describe the lived experiences of people living in rural Oklahoma who use meth and to increase understanding about the public health risks it creates for users and the general public. Shukla concludes with a critique of the current policies in place and offers her own suggestions on how to effectively combat the issue.
To accomplish her aims, Shukla draws on data collected over a 4-year period from semi-structured interviews with 33 people who formerly used, dealt, or manufactured meth. This presented a challenge, those involved or previously involved in illicit activities do not typically seek out strangers to confide in. Her thorough discussion of the problems locating a suitable sample point to the difficulties of ethnographic research and is a testament to her tenacity to accomplish her goals. Participants were in various stages of recovery, with some recently transitioning and others having quit long ago. Twenty-three participants, including 17 males and 6 females, had previously manufactured meth of some form. Those who experienced various drug involvement levels were necessary to understand how using careers progress from low level use to manufacturing. These participants were not just users though, Shukla took care to note that they were also people with the same emotions and social roles as us.
To understand the problem, one must first recognize the pathways that lead to meth, which is where Shukla begins to explore her participants’ diverse experiences. While the reasoning and circumstances surrounding initiation into meth use varied, several themes emerged. Most notably, the majority of individuals started their drug using careers before their teenage years, and none began with meth. Early childhood exposure to drugs, in addition to abuse and neglect, were the norm among those with whom she spoke. Shukla uncovered that, regardless of their varying life experiences, a “deep love of meth” kept her participants trapped in a cycle of drug abuse. Eventually, as their addictions increased, their use became difficult to maintain legally. This led all 33 respondents to engage in some level of drug selling—meth or other illicit substances.
As her participants’ use progressed to dealing, their social networks begin to exclusively revolve around meth. Unlike urban environments, where visible street corners and heavy policing leads to easier detection, this all unfolds amid the backdrop of a rural and thus more private environmental context. Shukla describes how this combination of social and environmental factors led 23 participants to begin to manufacture. She asserts that understanding the motivations and variations of manufacturing is necessary to combatting the problem. Her participants paint a picture of an exhilarating and intoxicating illusion of power that initially characterized their manufacturing experiences. Despite these perceptions, the realities of the risks users take to maintain their lifestyle were highlighted and brought to life with chilling tales. Not only were participants directly affected, but their loved ones and the general public became vulnerable as well. While meth use might be confined to only a subset of the population, the blistering truths revealed by participants indicate the numerous public health issues that result including child endangerment, abuse, and neglect; toxic places; intravenous drug use; risky behaviors; and violence.
Ultimately, all of the participants in this study were able to do what many drug users are never able to accomplish, wade out of darkness and into a life of recovery. As Shukla notes, overcoming addiction is not possible without reestablishing social ties as a means of support and individually taking steps to rebuild a conventional, law abiding life. Ineffective drug policy must also give way to a more clinically informed approach to the problem. Shukla proposes we lead this charge by increasing public awareness, increasing fact-based drug prevention and education programs, and opening safe havens for open dialogue about risky behaviors. Life after meth will not be easy, but the researcher and her subjects have hope that an individual’s love affair with meth can come to an end.
Shukla’s work demonstrates the importance of the qualitative research process in understanding the lives of people who abuse drugs. Her work prioritizes quotes from her participants, rather than deep theoretical analysis, to accomplish the goal of understanding the lived experiences of meth users. The rich insights allowed the participants’ stories to leap off the pages, offering an honest portrayal of the reasons for initiation, persistence, and eventual desistence from the meth world. As the numerous quotes allude to, what started out as a fun, drug-fueled lifestyle eventually ended the same way for each participant—devastation. Stories of loss and failure were recounted by every participant. Some lost their families, some lost their economic stability, and others lost everything except for their lives. But Shukla’s narrative is not one without hope, as she notes, the people she interviewed are not like the one-dimensional “faces of meth” caricatures portrayed in ads designed to shock viewers. While darkness permeated their lives as meth addicts, light exists at the end of the tunnel. She helps to illuminate that path by providing policy suggestions that she posits could end the cycle of meth use and lead to a brighter future for all of those impacted by the devastating effects of methamphetamine.