Doctoral Dissertation Research: Treating Addiction through the Law: An Ethnography of Methamphetamine in Rural America

标题：博士论文研究：通过法律治疗成瘾：美国农村地区甲基苯丙胺的民族志 PI：Joao Biehl 和 William Garriott 提案编号：0647698 该项目研究如何利用法律来解决美国农村地区的甲基苯丙胺流行问题。这是对西弗吉尼亚州东部五个县地区的一项扩展人种学研究，这些地区刚刚开始感受到甲基苯丙胺流行的影响。通过对话式参与观察和档案研究，该项目将研究农村社区如何应对犯罪率上升和与甲基苯丙胺相关的其他社会问题，特别强调在此过程中法律的运用方式。这里的重点不是正式立法是如何实施的，而是法律在日常生活中的地位如何随着甲基苯丙胺的影响而发生变化。由于甲基苯丙胺使犯罪成为日常生活中越来越普遍的一部分，法律如何解决这个问题？人们对法律的期望会因此发生怎样的变化？对甲基苯丙胺犯罪影响的关注如何影响那些与毒瘾作斗争的人的治疗？研究将重点关注涉及甲基苯丙胺的各种行为者，从执法官员到医疗专业人员再到相关公民，并涉及访谈、刑事案件档案分析以及法庭、精神卫生机构和公民行动团体的参与观察工作。我们将特别关注法律如何在那些被判犯有冰毒相关罪行的人的生活中发挥作用，特别是那些同样与冰毒成瘾作斗争的人。通过这种方式，这项研究将提供关于甲基苯丙胺流行病如何影响农村社区日常生活的人种学描述。通过利用长期的民族志实地考察工具来解决美国生活中对毒瘾和犯罪的长期关注，它还将有助于就犯罪和法律在当代社区和国家治理中不断变化的作用进行更广泛的对话。农村社区以及州和联邦机构可以通过利用这项研究开发更好的模型来处理成瘾和与毒品相关的犯罪问题，并将农村生活的特殊性纳入考虑范围，从而受益。

Title: Doctoral Dissertation Research: Treating Addiction through the Law: An Ethnography of Methamphetamine in the Rural United StatesPIs: Joao Biehl and William GarriottProposal Number: 0647698This project studies how law is being used to address the methamphetamine epidemic in the rural United States. It is an extended ethnographic study of a five county area in eastern West Virginia where the effects of the methamphetamine epidemic are just beginning to be felt. Through conversational participant observation and archival research, this project will examine how rural communities are responding to the rise in crime and other social problems associated with methamphetamine, with specific emphasis on the way law is being deployed in this process. The focus here is less on how formal legislation is being implemented, than with how the place of law in everyday life is changing in methamphetamine's wake. As methamphetamine makes crime an increasingly common part of everyday life, how is law being called upon to address it? How are expectations of the law changing as a result? And how is the focus on the criminal effects of methamphetamine impacting the treatment of those struggling with addiction? Research will focus on a variety of actors involved with methamphetamine, from law enforcement officials to medical professionals to concerned citizens, and involve interviews, analysis of criminal case files, and participant-observation work in courtrooms, mental health facilities and with citizen action groups. Particular attention will be paid to how law works in the lives of those convicted of meth-related crimes, especially those who are likewise struggling with methamphetamine addiction. In this way, this research will provide an ethnographic portrait of how the methamphetamine epidemic is affecting rural communities on an everyday basis. By bringing the tools of long-term ethnographic fieldwork to bear on the longstanding concern with drug addiction and crime in American life, it will also contribute to wider conversations on the changing role of crime and law in the governance of contemporary communities and states. Rural communities, as well as state and federal agencies, can benefit by using this research to develop better models for dealing with the problems of addiction and drug-related crime that factor the particularities of rural life into the equation.