Las Drogas

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This week NPR has been running a series on the “War against Meth ” as part of Morning Edition. These stories state that new laws restricting the retail sale of Sudafed — the same laws that gave birth to the “Operation Meth Merchant” prosecutions (see 1, 2, 3, 4) — have have been effective and meth production has drastically plummeted. With 44 states restricting the sale of various meth precursors, and a new federal law on the books:

The impact on meth labs was swift and dramatic, especially in the Midwest, where meth makers were especially prolific. Meth lab seizures are down 55 percent in Missouri, 73 percent in Iowa and Kansas and 88 percent in Nebraska [Link]

However, with a decline in domestic meth production has come an increase in imports of more dangerous crystal meth from Mexico:

Meth seizures at California’s ports of entry rose 40 percent in the last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Meth seizures at the border at El Paso, Texas, jumped 479 percent since 2002. [Link]

The Mexican government recently recovered more than $205 million from a safe house in Mexico City as part of a crackdown. Interestingly enough, they found the safe house while trying after busting a company importing pseudoephedrine … from India:

Prosecutors said the raid was part of an investigation into a pharmaceutical company suspected of importing chemicals to make the drugs from India. The investigation began with the seizure of 19.5 metric tons of pseudoephedrine in the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, they said. [Link]

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p>So US cops are blaming Indians for supplying American meth producers and Mexican cops are blaming Indians for supplying Mexican meth producers. We’re lucky that in Canada they’re just blaming Indians for bhang.

5 thoughts on “Las Drogas”

  1. I think India is a the worlds largest producer of pseudophedrine. The pseudophedrine is produced legally. It’s diverted through the supply chain to the illegal markets.

  2. Frontline did a piece on the epidemic a couple of moons ago. Steve Suo from the Oregonian did some crackerjack reporting. Scary stuff.

    The Federales fingered Krebs Biomedicals back in ’94:

    The government’s focus shifted after 1994, when a customs agent inadvertently discovered a large, illicit shipment of ephedrine on a plane traveling from India to Mexico. During an 18-month period in the early 1990s, a Mexican drug cartel had purchased 170 tons of ephedrine from Indian manufacturers and smuggled it into the United States, where it was turned into as much as 2 billion hits of meth. This accidental find was a hopeful moment in the history of the meth epidemic, and efforts to cut off the drug lord’s supply escalated. Once U.S. authorities asked the manufacturers to cease exports to the Mexican cartel, the chemicals became more expensive, and the purity of meth on America’s streets started to plunge — along with addiction rates. “We at Krebs Biochemicals would have been happy if the DEA or other American authorities had told us, `You can deal with these guys, they’re OK, but don’t deal with these guys,'” says Dr. R.T. Ravi, an administrator at the company. “We would rather that our product did not fall into the wrong hands.” Link

  3. Oh gosh, I hope you’re not trying to make meth merchants victims of racism. Not all Indians are model, sadly.

  4. Jim Ross: King I gotta tell you this intergender streetfight is going to be something to behold! King: thats right JR I thought Vince was crazy,but he is a pure genius! Jim Ross: By gawd King she is going to use the sledgehammer! King: I hope I can see some puppies! Some where in the background Vince Mcmahon laughs to himself.