The Limits of Pure White: Raced Reproduction in the Methamphetamine Crisis
![handle is hein.journals/worts35 and id is 405 raw text is: THE LIMITS OF PURE WHITE:
RACED REPRODUCTION IN THE
METHAMPHETAMINE CRISIS
Grace Howard*
Twenty years ago, crack was headed east across the United States like a Mack
Truck out of control, and it slammed New York hard because we just didn't see
the warning signs. Well, the headlights are glaring bright off in the distance
again, this time with meth. We are still paying the price of missing the warning
signs back then, and if we don't remember our history we will be doomed to
repeat it, because crustal [sic] meth could become the new crack.
- U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (NY), 20041
The one chance the children may have is for their mothers to stay in
jail until they're born, if (the mothers) are indeed using meth.2 Alabama's
Franklin County District Attorney, Joey Rushing, made this statement3 in
support of a new and controversial interpretation of the Alabama Criminal
Code, section 26-15-3.2, a chemical endangerment law.4 In 2006, State
Senator Lowell Barron introduced SB133,5 a bill meant to remedy the
effects of a supposed methamphetamine epidemic in Alabama by creating
the crime of chemical endangerment to a minor.6 Adopted as law, section
* Grace Howard is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers University. She
would like to thank Cynthia Daniels, Amanda Roberti, Lisa Miller, Dana Britton, Shatema Threadcraft,
Farah Diaz-Tello, Laura Huss, Jeanne Flavin, Lynn Paltrow and Edward Snyder for their support,
inspiration, encouragement, and thoughtful insights.
1 Press Release, Charles Schumer, New Stats Show Crystal Meth Quickly Becoming the New
Crack-Seizures In New York Up 31% Over Last Year (Apr. 25, 2004),
http://www.schumer.senate.gov/new website/record.cfm?id=265406.
2 Tom Smith, Woman accused of using meth during pregnancy, TIMEs DAILY.COM, (May 16, 2009
12:00 AM), http://www.timesdaily.com/archives/article-f8105f46-bb91-506d-b847-
bd2a3967e60b.html (quoting Joey Rushing) [hereinafter Woman accused of using meth during
pregnancy].
3 Id.
4 ALA. CODE § 26-15-3.2 (2009).
5 S.B. 133, Act 2006-204, 2006 Leg. Reg. Sess. (Ala. 2006), available at
http://lrs.state.al.us/publications/2006 regular summaries.html#Anchor-Ac-21562; see also original
text of S.B. 133, available at
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/searchableinstruments/2006rs/bills/sbl 33.htm.
6 Id.
373](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/worts35&div=21&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Limits of Pure White: Raced Reproduction in the Methamphetamine Crisis
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