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：美国农村甲基苯丙胺的民族志PI：Joao Biehl和William Garriott建议编号：0647698这个项目研究如何利用法律来解决美国农村的甲基苯丙胺流行问题。这是一项对西弗吉尼亚州东部五个县地区的扩展人种学研究，在那里，甲基苯丙胺疫情的影响刚刚开始显现。通过对话参与者观察和档案研究，该项目将审查农村社区如何应对与甲基苯丙胺有关的犯罪和其他社会问题的上升，并特别强调在这一过程中部署法律的方式。这里的焦点与其说是如何实施正式立法，不如说是法律在日常生活中的地位在冰毒之后发生了怎样的变化。随着冰毒使犯罪成为日常生活中越来越常见的一部分，法律是如何被要求解决这个问题的？因此，人们对这项法律的期望发生了怎样的变化？对甲基苯丙胺的犯罪效应的关注如何影响那些与毒瘾作斗争的人的治疗？研究将侧重于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，再到忧心忡忡的公民，并涉及采访、分析刑事案件档案以及在法庭、心理健康机构和公民行动团体中进行参与者观察工作。将特别关注法律如何在那些被判犯有与冰毒有关的罪行的人的生活中发挥作用，特别是那些同样在与冰毒成瘾作斗争的人。通过这种方式，这项研究将提供一幅关于甲基苯丙胺流行如何影响农村社区日常生活的人种学肖像。通过将长期的人种学田野调查工具应用于美国人生活中对毒品成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角色展开更广泛的对话。农村社区以及州和联邦机构可以利用这项研究开发更好的模式来处理成瘾和与毒品有关的犯罪问题，并将农村生活的特殊性纳入等式。

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.