Spike in Mexican methamphetamine as US production slows

TUCSON, Ariz. — Border officers have seized more methamphetamine in
Arizona this fiscal year than they did the entire previous year, continuing an
upward trend for the drug that officials say is much easier and cheaper to
manufacture in Mexico.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Arizona ports of entry have
seized more than 3,240 pounds of meth between October and May, compared with
3,200 pounds for the entire last fiscal year. The federal government’s fiscal
year ends Sept. 30.

“We started noticing the increase with meth in fiscal year 2014, so we noticed
an increment on crystal meth and obviously it all starts from the demand, you
know. They’re demanding this drug,” agency spokeswoman Marcia Armendariz said.

The popularity of meth is not new to the border, but federal officials said the
spike in seizures both at the border and within the country has raised eyebrows.
Authorities also said heroin smuggling has increased over the past several years.

At six Southern California border crossings, authorities have seized 9,431
pounds of meth between October and April, a figure that could surpass the 14,732
pounds officers found in all of the last fiscal year.

In Arizona, drug smugglers have become more creative in how they try to bring
hard drugs into the country. In one recent case, a woman had methamphetamine
molded into the shape of a brassiere that she wore when she tried to cross into
Arizona, Armendariz said.

One other popular form of transporting meth is by liquefying it. Armendariz
said liquid meth is not that common at Arizona ports, but officials said it’s a
popular method for smugglers to go undetected in other ports. Crystal meth is
dissolved in a solution and then later crystalized again. In one case, the meth
officers found had been liquefied and placed in the washer fluid of a car,
Armendariz said.

Liquid meth can also be stored in the second gas tanks that many large trucks
have, said Matt Barden, a spokesman with the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration. About four pounds of meth can be formed from each gallon of
liquid meth, he said.

Tightened laws in the U.S. that make it harder to manufacture meth have
resulted in a booming market for Mexican drug cartels who operate “super labs”
that can produce hundreds of pounds of meth at once, Barden said. Mexican meth
also has a much higher purity level than meth produced in the U.S., and it is
much cheaper.

Meth used to cost about $30,000 a pound. Now, it can be found for between $8,000
and $10,000, Barden said.

“You can’t compete with that they have and (with) their prices,” he said.

The once ubiquitous home or mobile meth lab is now rare, according to DEA
figures. In 2010, the agency reported more than 15,000 labs, dumpsites and other
meth-manufacturing equipment. By last year, that number had fallen to 9,240.

The less meth is manufactured in the states, the more of it Mexico will supply.

“It’s at a huge uptick and then looking back, you sit there and wonder, and
`How it could be more popular than it is?'” Barden said.