Research Question or Purpose Statement: The article showcases Jenkot’s study of different roles involved in creating methamphetamine and highlights the respect a meth-producing group has for its individuals taking on specific roles. Theory/Hypotheses: When it comes to producing methamphetamine, there is a nondiscriminatory chain of command that exists within all producing groups. Understanding this chain of command helps us cognize the communication and collaboration of members within these groups.
Method: Jenkot conducted his study by interviewing 31 imprisoned 18 to 48 year old women in Missouri and Arkansas about their involvement with methamphetamine. Every interview lasted one to three hours. All of the interviewed women had drug charges, and 18 of the 31 were once methamphetamine “cooks,” highly respected individuals within a methamphetamine-producing group. All of the women possessed a high school diploma or a GED, and 5 of them also had some type of education beyond high school.
They each maintained a job before arrest. Results: Through his interviews, Jenkot discovered that there are very distinct and specific jobs or roles in the process of producing methamphetamine. In a methamphetamine-producing group, there is a spectrum spanning from highly respected roles to roles not respected at all. Most commonly, a member of a methproducing group may start out with an undesired role and slowly work his or her way up to a more respected position, depending on his or her success at their previous position.
The most desired position within a methamphetamine-producing group is the “cook. ” The cooks hold the power, because they are continually providing the desired good, meth. In exchange for their creation of the drug, cooks are constantly waited on, given whatever they want-food, technology, sex, etc. —by the rest of the group. Immediately beneath the cook is the Gas Man or Juicer. Jenkot’s interviewees reported that Gas Men are also highly respected and important to their group, but their job is much more dangerous.
Gas Men are in charge of acquiring the anhydrous ammonia, an extremely toxic and highly explosive key ingredient in Methamphetamine. Gas Men have to worry about being injured or killed, along with worrying about being caught and arrested. A group member whose job is to attain more harmless meth-making materials is the Shopper. The Shopper is in charge of collecting any other good needed to produce meth, along with anything a cook may desire. The attainment of these goods is commonly through theft.
The riskier a Shopper is, the more he or she is respected. Undesired positions within the methamphetamine-producing world include Dope Ho’s and “users. ” Both, Dope Ho’s and users hang around groups simply to get their hands on some meth. Groups do not especially respect Dope Ho’s or users; however, Dope Ho’s are at least acknowledged and accepted by the group they hang around. Dope Ho’s will often trade whatever (usually sex) for some meth. Users are not a part of the group, but group members know who they are.
As previously stated, 18 of Jenkot’s interviewees were cooks. Sixteen of them were present users also. Group members learn from each other by example and may earn a higher spot on the chain of command if they operate well as they are learning new tasks. In this process, groups are nondiscriminatory when it comes to gender. The women Jenkot interviewed held highly respected positions within their groups and spoke as if they were capable of completing all necessary meth-creating tasks. All of the women felt just as important as their male counterparts.
Conclusion: There is chain of command within methamphetamineproducing groups that establishes levels of respect for its members. These chains of command usually have nothing to do with gender, but instead have everything do with the success of each member in his or her position at helping produce high quantities of methamphetamine. Jenkot’s interviewees spanned from cooks to users. A cook possesses authority, and if that authority is taken away—possibly due to incarceration—he or she may go through an identity crisis, longing to maintain that desired status and power again one day.
Incarceration helps a member acknowledge that their high status within their methproducing group does not give them extra power outside of that group. Critique: Because the drug world is so private, we don’t understand what goes into producing drugs such as methamphetamine, so| believe Jenkot conducted his interviews in a way that allowed the women to open up and let us into their lives as drug users and producers. Since Jenkot wanted to examine every role within a meth-producing group, it was necessary for him to interview cooks, users, and roles in between, as he did.
If possible, Jenkot should conduct a post-incarceration study on these same 31 women to see if they enter back into their groups to try to regain cook status. A similar study, except with men, should also be conducted to discover whether or not men also believe that women are able to hold highly respected cook positions within a group. Discussion Questions: 1. Would men agree that women are capable of holding just as much power within a group? 2. How can prisons help inmates feel valued and authoritative in a positive/healthy way?
