Addiction and the ‘rush’ may keep men cooking meth

A new study takes a closer look at the reasons people cook meth and come to see it as a job.

The work offers insight into the world of meth production and an understanding of why meth cooks chose that path, researchers say. The findings can help with the development of prevention and rehabilitation efforts.

Many people with addiction struggle to maintain normal employment and cooking is a way to feed their addiction without resorting to other forms of crime, says lead author Jacob Erickson, a PhD candidate in sociology at Iowa State University.

Motivations for cooking meth

Researchers interviewed 33 former meth cooks who were living in faith-based transitional facilities at the time. Some of the participants shared how they took a lot of pride in their work and the rush they would get from the cooking process.

“I’d instantly get chills and goosebumps as soon as the last process was, like when you smoke it off [the last step in cooking meth], and you just see powder falling out of the bottom of the jar. Instantly, I feel almost high at that point,” said one former cook.

More than the money, Erickson says, it was the intangible rewards related to status, pride, and lifestyle that really bound cooks to their job. The fact that cooking meth was illegal also added to the high.

“The majority of our respondents had embodied that role of drug dealer or meth cook so fully and deeply that they drew some level of enjoyment from it,” Erickson says.

“Within their community, their status was associated specifically with the fact that they were cooks and they appreciated their elevated position relative to other meth users.”

The researchers found the motivation to cook varied by gender. Hochstetler says the hypersexuality and party atmosphere associated with meth were attractive components of the lifestyle for men. Women in the study never mentioned this aspect unless asked, however. Many women said they cooked for financial independence—to avoid selling sex for drugs or to get out of an abusive relationship.

‘I couldn’t hold a steady job’

Many participants held legitimate jobs at one point, but shared how the lifestyle and mental effects of the drug made it difficult to stay employed. Some failed to show up for work or made serious mistakes while on the job, including car crashes and injuring coworkers.

“I couldn’t hold a steady job. I couldn’t be in control of two or three other people while they was working for me. I just would go off the job site and leave them for two or three days and let them go on their own and that went to hell real quick,” one participant said.

Many of the participants were from low-socioeconomic backgrounds with limited education, which may have influenced their decision to start using meth, the researchers say.

Cooking gave them personal fulfillment and a status level that the conventional jobs they had could not provide. Addressing some of these economic and educational barriers must be part of drug-prevention efforts, the researchers say.

Understanding the rush and social status associated with cooking meth is important for rehabilitation and helping offenders find and stick to a new career path, Hochstetler says. Some participants said they were more addicted to the lifestyle than the drug, which is hard to give up.

“Many former offenders don’t like the slow pace and the planning that is part of everyday life. When they’re encapsulated in a criminal lifestyle, it pulls them in and they’re not that worried about aspects of conventional lifestyles,” Hochstetler says.

The research appears in Justice Quarterly. Additional coauthors are from Iowa State and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Source: Iowa State University

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