Methamphetamine, Symbolic Boundaries, and Using Status

The Funny Side of Drug Dealing: Risk, Humor, and Narrative Identity

“…Lamont and Molnár () argued that a key way groups differentiate themselves is by establishing and maintaining superiority over outgroups on some dimension (see also Tajfel, , ; Tajfel and Turner, ). The results of our analysis, in drawing from extant literature on humor (see, e.g., Fine, ; Glasgow, ; Morreall, ; Zillman, ), builds on the findings of previous research suggesting that offenders construct symbolic boundaries through narratives (see, e.g., Copes, Hochstetler, and Williams, ; Marsh, Copes, and Linnemann, ; Webb, Deitzer, and Copes, ) by highlighting that, among drug dealers at least, humor is a key mechanism facilitating this process.…”

Drug sellers’ neutralizations of guiltless drug sales and avoidance of “drug dealer” identities

“…But given that thinking one is not a "drug dealer" may preemptively help a person avoid negative feelings, why did these sellers not construct identities as persons who were not "drug dealers" then? The possible answer to this can be drawn from both the research on normalization previously discussed as well as recent work on symbolic boundary making by drug users and dealers conducted by Copes and colleagues (e.g., Copes 2016;Copes et al, 2016;Copes et al, 2008;Copes et al, 2018;Webb et al, 2017). In short, this research argues that hard drug users and sellers operate in a broader cultural context in which many persons identify them as participating in risky and self-damaging behavior.…”

Narratives of Starting, Using, and Stopping Methamphetamine Use

“…Gender-based stigmatisation applied to those unable to control their meth use is powerfully communicated in the Montana Meth Project, the 'Faces of Meth' campaigns 39 and other anti-meth rhetoric. It has been observed by Webb, Deitzer andCopes (2017:1393) that in these campaigns, more than half of all the images used include demeaning and sexualising pictures of women associating female meth use with meth-induced prostitution 40 . These addiction tropes also communicate the effects of methamphetamine as being far more ruinous for women than men.…”

“…These addiction tropes also communicate the effects of methamphetamine as being far more ruinous for women than men. Although stigmatising drug use affects all genders, women are also particularly vulnerable to stigma given that drug use is considered oppositional in nature to traditional notions of femininity and motherhood (Webb et al: 2017). Their doubly deviant status places them at increased risk of drug-related harms resulting from stigma, a risk likely magnified for women who use methamphetamine, due to its cultural association with "an allencompassing sensation of dirtiness" (Manderson: 1995:802, McKenna: 2013.…”