As The Oregonian's award-winning 2004 investigation showed, Congress and federal authorities could have contained the meth epidemic, and still can. Unlike heroin and cocaine, which are distilled from plants grown across huge areas of Asia and South America, meth requires ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, two chemicals used to make asthma medications or cold and cough remedies such as Sudafed.What is the difference between the drug traffickers' super labs and amateur cooks' kitchen labs?
Only nine factories in the world manufacture the bulk of the world's supply of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Tightening control over the supply of these chemicals has been pursued on and off over the past 18 years, but the regulations have contained loopholes which meth traders quickly exploited. Nevertheless, each time there have been new regulations it has made a real difference, as The Oregonian's investigation showed: the drug grew scarce and rehab centers saw fewer meth patients. What still has to happen is the implementation of sustained controls by government that could stop meth's continuing spread.”
The cook process is different. The super labs cook process is more efficient because it involves a standardized line of equipment and chemicals. Super labs can produce 100,000-plus doses of meth; the end product is often diluted with additives before it hits the street.How much will state laws help?
Home labs are cobbled together from various kinds of equipment and chemicals and produce no more than 300 doses, or enough for the amateur cook and a few local sales. The majority of seized labs are home labs.
Graphics and details about meth labs in The Oregonian's meth series."
Many states are now restricting purchases of over-the-counter pseudoephedrine-based cold and cough medicines.Read more:
They will likely reduce the number of amateur cooks making meth in their kitchens because it will reduce their access to pseudoephedrine-containing cold and cough medicines sold over the counter. Some of the states that have these laws have seen a drop-off in the number of seized home labs. But local authorities in many of these areas are now concerned that the Mexican meth trade is simply moving in and filling the supply gap.
A state-by-state comparison of meth's impact."
"What's the international angle to the meth story?posted by ericb at 1:36 PM on July 19, 2007
What are the challenges in battling the Mexican cartels' meth trafficking?", etc.
"From the lush mountain valleys of Peru to America's toughest streets, ruthless Mexican gangs are grabbing control of the multi-billion dollar cocaine and crystal meth smuggling trade.Mexican Meth Suppliers Meeting U.S. Demand
...U.S. agents say Mexico's cartels are the main traffickers in almost all regions of the United States and increasingly active at every stage of the international business.
...About 90 percent of U.S.-bound cocaine now moves through Mexico.
...U.S. hopes that crop eradication in the Andes and more seizures would hit supply and force U.S prices up have proven wrong. Instead, prices dropped as coca crop yields jumped and cheaper drugs like crystal meth became more popular."
"Because of tougher U.S. laws, fewer people are cooking up batches of meth in dangerous homemade labs, but that doesn’t mean the supply has dried up. Eighty percent or more of America’s methamphetamine habit now comes from Mexico, law enforcement officials say.posted by ericb at 2:03 PM on July 19, 2007
...Records provided by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration show there were 7,347 meth lab reports nationwide last year, down from 12,619 in 2005 and 17,834 the year before.
But those labs have been replaced by superlabs in Mexico and by Mexican-run labs in some American border states, DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said. They are supplied with bulk shipments of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine originating mostly in China, India and Germany, he said.
‘The issue now is international chemical control,’ Payne said. ‘When these chemicals are diverted onto the illegal market, that is a global issue.’
Payne said the ‘growth of international drug trafficking organizations, specifically meth production, has created a huge amount of supply in the United States. They have sort of outdone the small toxic labs.’
…Mexican organizations have come in and filled [the] need,’ he said. ‘They are bringing in the product in very creative ways using the interstates in vehicles and trucks.’""
‘‘‘Ice’ is a crystallized form of meth also known as crystal. It is produced in relatively larger quantities in so-called ‘superlabs.’ Most are based in Mexico; they ship drugs to the United States by UPS, FEDEX and Greyhound bus, as well as in cars and trucks with secret compartments.posted by ericb at 2:17 PM on July 19, 2007
…The [Mexican meth] groups are very sophisticated,’ [Dave Barton, Midwest director for the federal government's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area] says. ‘They generate huge amounts of profits and money. They have sophisticated communication links. They have family ties. And they are very, very organized in the way they manufacture and move their product.’
That product filled the gap in meth supply when ‘mom and pop’ labs began to diminish. It is also feeding ‘exploding meth populations’ in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, according to Barton.
[Mike] McDonald, [a drug-control detective in Jasper County, Mo warns that there's more money in the Mexican meth trade, along with organized cartels. Both indicate more potential for violence.
‘They can afford surveillance systems. They can afford body armor. They can afford weapons. And we're going to see more and more of that now,’ McDonald says.
There are signs already of a more violent trade, according to one old ‘mom and pop’ meth maker wistful for the old days. He's helping police now, so authorities asked NPR not to use his name.
‘If you came to me and got an eight ball of dope and didn't pay me, that's cool,’ the former meth producer said. ‘You knew you could never come back and get anything from me ever again. Now, if you get $50 worth of dope on credit and don't pay, they're subject to go… burn your car, or hurt you or your mom or your family. That's the difference.’
There's one other key difference. Addicts and treatment counselors say Mexican meth, when smoked in its purer and more potent forms, leads to quicker and deeper addiction. They say it's an addiction that is tougher to kick.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse agrees. In fact, meth addiction and meth-related drug treatment are on the rise, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center. And that increase coincides with the increased trafficking in Mexican meth.
‘It's out there. It's here to stay,’ said T.J. Stevens of southwest Missouri's Comet Drug Task Force. ‘It's going to take some act of God to make it change.’’’
Car Rams Whittier Pharmacy, Thieves Steal Meth Ingredientsposted by ericb at 4:38 PM on July 19, 2007
"Thieves rammed a stolen car through the glass doors of a closed pharmacy in Whittier overnight. They left the car but got away with a large quantity of pseudoephedrine, a cold medicine used to manufacture methamphetamine.
The brazen theft was similar to one the previous day at a CVS in Anaheim.
No prescription drugs were taken.
Police say in each case two thieves were captured on the store's security cameras, but it's still not clear if it was the same people at both stores."
"It's not a crime to refuse to answer questions, but refusing to answer can make the police suspicious about you....Police may 'pat-down' your clothing if they suspect a concealed weapon. Don't physically resist, but make it clear that you don't consent to any further search....Ask if you are under arrest. If you are, you have a right to know why....Don't bad-mouth the police officer or run away, even if you believe what is happening is unreasonable. That could lead to your arrest....If the police knock and ask to enter your home, you don't have to admit them unless they have a warrant signed by a judge...."There are likely to be lawsuits by civil liberties groups challenging this MethCheck approach as regards to 'probable cause,' 'reasonable suspicion' and legal 'search-and-seizure' standards and provisions.
"People's health information — it's intimate, it's personal, it's something people desperately want to keep private," said Beth Wilson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Kentucky. "For law enforcement to do an investigation, there must be a reasonable suspicion. I'm not sure just the amount of medication justifies that."posted by ericb at 4:52 PM on July 19, 2007
Hitler's Drugged Soldiers.Godwin for the WIN!!!
Hitler and Meth.
"You're not actually 'addicted' to the ingredients in decongestant nasal sprays as much as you are to what the ingredients do — which is clear your nasal passages. Even so, this is not a true addiction...."A friend had to be weaned off of Afrin.
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