Examining the Impact of Individual,Community,and Market Factors on Methamphetamine Use: A Tale of Two Cities

Abstract

Although prior studies have monitored the trends in methamphetamine use and reported its increase over the years, few studies have considered how community-level characteristics affect the use of methamphetamine. In this study, we utilize data from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program from two cities to examine how individual-level, community-level, and drug market factors influence methamphetamine use. Results indicate that both individual and community-level data significantly influence methamphetamine use. Also, findings show that predictors of methamphetamine use (at the individual and community-level) differ significantly from marijuana, cocaine, and opiate use. Policy implications regarding law enforcement suppression and the treatment of methamphetamine users are discussed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abadinski

1993 Drug abuse. Nelson-Hall: Chicago

Andrews

Bonta

1994 Psychology of criminal behavior. Cincinnati: Anderson.

Anglin

Burke

Perrochet

Stamper

Dawud-Noursi

2000 History of the methamphetamine problem. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 32 (2), 137–141

Arthur

M.W.

Hawkins

J.D.

Pollard

J.A.

Catalano

R.F.

Baglioni

A.J.

2002 Measuring risk and protective factors for substance use, delinquency, and other adolescent problem behaviors: The Communities That Care Youth Survey. Evaluation Review, 26 (6), 575–601

Beltran

Ostrow

Joseph

1993 Predictors of sexual behavior change among men requesting their HIV-1 antibody status. AIDS Education and Prevention, 5 (3), 185–195

Blau

P.M.

1977 Inequality and heterogeneity: A primitive theory of social structure. New York: Free Press

Bursik

R.J.

1988 Social disorganization and theories of crime and delinquency: Problems and prospects. Criminology, 26 (4), 519–552

Caukins

J.P.

Dworak

Feichtinger

2000 Price-raising drug enforcement and property crime: A dynamic model. Journal of Economics, 71 (3), 227–253

Centers for Disease Control 2000 Public health consequences among first respondents to emergency events associated with illicit methamphetamine laboratories. Weekly 49 (45), 1021–4

10.

Eck

J. E.

1995 A general model of the geography of illicit retail marketplaces. In Eck

Weisburd

(Eds.), Crime and place: Vol. 4 (pp. 67–94). Monsey: Criminal Justice Press

11.

Esbensen

Huizinga

1990 Community structure and drug use: From a social disorganization perspective. Justice Quarterly, 7 (4), 691–709

12.

Glittenberg

Anderson

1999 Methamphetamine: Use and trafficking in the Tucson-Nogales area. Substance Use and Misuse, 34 (4), 1977–1989

13.

Halkitis

1998 Formative research of HIV+ men who have sex with men. Paper presented at the research colloquium series of the National Development and Research Institutes. New York, NY

14.

Halkitis

Parsons

Strratt

2001 A double epidemic: Crystal methamphetamine drug use in relation to HIV transmission among gang men. Journal of Homosexuality, 4(2), 17–35

15.

Hawkins

J.D.

Catalano

R.F.

Miller

J.Y.

1992 Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early adulthood. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 64–105

16.

Herz

D.C.

2000 Drugs in the heartland: Methamphetamine use in rural Nebraska. Washington DC: National Institute of Justice

17.

Hunt

Rhodes

2001 Methodology guide for ADAM. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice

18.

Jenkins

1992 The speed capital of the world: Organizing the methamphetamine industry in Philadelphia 1970–1990. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 6 (1), 18–39

19.

Jenkins

1994 “The Ice Age”: The social construction of a drug panic. Justice Quarterly, 11 (1), 7–31

20.

Johnston

L. D.

O'Malley

P. M.

Bachman

J. G.

2003 Montoring the Future national results on adolescent drug use: Overview of key findings, 2002. (NIH Publication No. 03–5374). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse

21.

Joon

S. J.

Johnson

B. R.

2001 Neighborhood disorder, individual religiosity, and adolescent use of illicit drugs: A test of multilevel hypothesis. Criminology, 39 (1), 109–143

22.

Kall

1992 Effects of amphetamine on sexual behavior of male IV drug users in Stockholm: A pilot study. AIDS Education Prevention, 4, 6–17

23.

Kissin

Ball

2002 Club drugs, 2001 update. The DAWN Report, Oct., 1–4

24.

Kleven

Seiden

1992 Methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity. The neurobiology of drug and alcohol addiction. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 654, 292–301

25.

Lawler

E. J.

2001 An affect theory of social exchange. American Journal of Sociology, 107 (2), 321–352

26.

Loxley

1998 Weed or speed? Convicted drug dealers' views of substitutions in the western Australian illicit drug market to 1992. International Journal of Drug Policy, 9, 109–118

27.

Mason

1989 Preliminary look at social and economic dynamics influencing drug markets, drug use patterns, and HIV risk behaviors among injecting drug users in two Baltimore networks. Community Epidemiology Work Group, 108–117

28.

McEwen

Uchida

C. D.

2000 An evaluation of the COPS Office Methamphetamine Initiative: Interim report. Alexandria: Institute for Law and Justice

29.

Miller

M. A.

1991 Methamphetamine abuse: Epidemiologic issues and implications. Rockville, MA: National Institute on Drug Abuse

30.

Miller

M. A.

Thomas

J. M.

1989 Past and current methamphetamine epidemics. Community Epidemiology Work Group, 58–65

31.

Molitor

Ruiz

Flynn

Mikanda

Sun

Anderson

1999 Methamphetamine use and sexual and injection risk behaviors among out-of-treatment injection drug users. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 25 (3), 475–493

32.

Molm

2003 Theoretical comparisons of forms of exchange. Sociological Theory, 21 (1), 1–17

33.

National Institute on Drug Abuse 2003 Methamphetamine abuse and addiction. National Institute on Drug Abuse: Washington, DC. Retrieved August 25, 2005, from http://www.nida.nih.gov/ResearchReports/Methamph/methamp2.html

34.

Oetting

Deffenbacher

Taylor

Luther

Beauvais

Edwards

2000 Methamphetamine use by high school students: Recent trends, gender, and ethnicity differences, and use of other drugs. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 10 (1), 33–50

35.

Pennell

Ellett

Rienick

Grimes

1999 Meth matters: Report on methamphetamine users in five western cities. Washington DC: National Institute of Justice

36.

Raudenbush

S.W.

Bryk

A.S.

2002 Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications

37.

Reback

1997 The social construction of a gay drug. Report funded by the City of Los Angeles

38.

Riley

K. J.

1997 Crack, powder cocaine, and heroin: Drug purchase and use patterns in six U.S. cities. Washington DC: Office of National Drug Control Policy

39.

Skogan

W. G.

1990 Disorder and decline: Crime and the spiral of decay in American neighborhoods. New York: The Free Press

40.

Stolzenburg

D'Alessio

S. J.

2002 A multilevel analysis of the effect of cocaine price on cocaine use among arrestees. Journal of Criminal Justice, 550, 1–11

41.

United States Bureau of the Census 2000 Summary tape files 1 and 3. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census

42.

United States Congress 1990 The re-emergence of methamphetamine. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, US House of Representatives, 101^st Congress, First Session. October 24, 1989. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office

43.

Vittinghoff

Buchbinder

Judson

McKirnan

MacQueen

1998 Per-contact risk of HIV associated with four types of homosexual contact. Paper presented at the Fifth Annual Conference of Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Chicago, IL

44.

Wermuth

2000 Methamphetamine use: Hazards and social influences. Journal of Drug Education, 30 (4), 423–433