Hello and welcome back to my blog. We are beginning a fresh topic for the net few weeks worth of assignments and posts. This project will have us delving deep into the clandestine, the dangerous, and ultimately bad world of drugs. Specifically we will be examining the role of GIS statistical analysis as it applies to aiding law enforcement with determining ideal locations to find methamphetamine labs. Methamphetamine's have been around since the early 1920's, and illegal since the 60's which drove the illicit trade underground. Meth labs have been found in every state, but surprisingly only in about half the countries counties. This leaves a huge disparity in the national / state level problem and the county level. Over the next few weeks I will be analyzing tow particular counties of West Virginia, Putnam and Kanawha. These counties are credited with 187 meth lab busts from 2004-2008. The majority of which come after 2005 which saw the introduction of the Combat
Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 aimed at eliminating the over the counter acquisition of pills which could be distilled into meth generating substances. Once again, the overall goal is to explore the uses of GIS in this incredibly relevant topic to the nation. Chances are we all know someone who has been impacted through drugs or drug use, or at minimum you can see it all too prevalent in the news. The idea behind this lab is to examine the socioeconomic trend information that can aid in determining where meth labs are most likely to be to give the information to law enforcement. The end deliverable for this will be a scientific paper discussing the issue and analysis being done on the below study area.
As stated earlier the study area in the Charleston area of West Virginia was home to 187 meth lab busts. This information has already been summarily broken down into a meth lab density by census tract in the above main map. This essentially means the total number of busts per census tract was divided by the area of the tract to give us the density values seen in the legend. This map also provides a basic overview of the subject counties and provides state context as well. Additionally an extra tidbit was added in the cities that are displayed, you can see that throughout this study area there are only 4 named cities that house over 10,000 people apiece. This may or may not factor into the study. Time will tell.
I will leave you with this:
As stated earlier the study area in the Charleston area of West Virginia was home to 187 meth lab busts. This information has already been summarily broken down into a meth lab density by census tract in the above main map. This essentially means the total number of busts per census tract was divided by the area of the tract to give us the density values seen in the legend. This map also provides a basic overview of the subject counties and provides state context as well. Additionally an extra tidbit was added in the cities that are displayed, you can see that throughout this study area there are only 4 named cities that house over 10,000 people apiece. This may or may not factor into the study. Time will tell.
I will leave you with this:
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