Nostalgia and rumors in the rural methamphetamine market

Abstract

Rural Missouri previously had among the highest numbers of “mom and pop” methamphetamine laboratories in the United States, but after the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act was passed (2005) such laboratories declined dramatically. Today, industrially produced methamphetamine imported from Mexico, ice, dominates in the United States (DEA in: National Drug Threat Assessment. United States Drug Enforcement Administration, 2020). Our analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted in 2019 with 40 women involved in the methamphetamine market in rural Missouri shows their cultural responses to this market shift. Our data revealed widespread nostalgia towards former, locally produced meth types, along with rumors regarding the new ice. The rumors resembled horror stories and portrayed the imported ice as a dangerous fungus, and also thematized “Mexicans”/“cartels,” and the federal government. We interpret nostalgia and rumors as cultural symptoms following the loss of control over means of meth production and resulting limited knowledge about production and contents of ice. Additionally, ice represents a pressing power threat in response to perceived racial heterogenization, changing of rural communities, and interconnected threats to their collective identities.