**Minnesota's Menace:**

**Methamphetamine Trafficking from Mexico**

**June 27, 2005**

**Congresswoman Betty McCollum: June 27, 2005**

-   "The meth epidemic, this poison polluting Minnesota, is being
    produced in Mexican super labs and is trafficked by Mexican drug
    gangs. Banning Sudafed and eliminating every lab in Minnesota will
    do almost nothing if we don't stop meth at its source -- Mexico."

**House Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice
Drug Policy, and Human Resources**. (Testimony by Anthony P. Placido,
Assistant Administrator for Intelligence (Acting), Drug Enforcement
Administration, United States Department of Justice)**: June 14, 2005**

-   **"Perhaps [the greatest emerging drug threat from Mexico is the
    production of methamphetamine for sale and use in the United
    States]{.underline}."**

-   "Of particular concern, **Mexican drug trafficking organizations
    have been establishing methamphetamine laboratories closer to the
    U.S. border** (in conjunction with their traditional manufacturing
    locations in central Mexico) to better reach markets in the U.S. as
    well as the growing user population within Mexico."

-   "**Mexican drug trafficking organizations pose the greatest drug
    trafficking threat** not only along the Southwest border but also to
    **[the entire United States]{.underline}**."

-   "**Powerful Mexican drug traffickers** continue to operate and
    Mexico continues to be the primary transit country for cocaine and a
    major producer of heroin, **methamphetamine**, and marijuana
    destined for U.S. markets."

-   **"The single largest impediment to seriously impacting the drug
    trafficking problem in Mexico is corruption** ...In actuality, **law
    enforcement in Mexico is all too often part of the problem rather
    than part of the solution**. This is particularly true at the
    municipal and state levels of government ... **Mexican law
    enforcement also suffers from poor training, high turn-over, and a
    lack of resources**. These problems and Mexico's unique geographic
    location virtually assure that **the country [will
    continue]{.underline} to be the primary location used to facilitate
    the flow of drugs destined for the United States**."

State of Minnesota: Drug Profile Indicators, Office of National Drug
Control Policy: June 2005

-   Methamphetamine is "the second greatest threat in the state
    (Minnesota) after cocaine\..."

-   **"most of the illegal drugs found in Minnesota are transported from
    Mexico** and the southwestern states..."

Christian Science Monitor: May 3, 2005

-   "At the same time, however, meth addiction continues to be a major
    problem in local pockets around the country - in part because in
    most states, **80 percent of the drug is imported from so-called
    super labs in places like Mexico**."

Office of National Drug Control Policy, International Fact Sheet:
Bilateral Cooperation with Mexico: March 2005

-   "At present the Government of Mexico neither has the necessary
    expertise nor the equipment to locate and seize methamphetamine
    laboratories. **In many instances, these laboratories are discovered
    only when authorities react to fires or explosions**."

National Drug Threat Assessment 2005, U.S. Department of Justice:
February 2005

-   "Methamphetamine production appears to have increased sharply in
    Mexico since 2002. **Mexican criminal groups are able to acquire
    bulk quantities of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine from China and
    other countries for use in Mexico-based laboratories.**"

Office of National Drug Control Policy, Methamphetamine Factsheet:
November 2003

-   "**Mexican drug trafficking organizations have become the dominant
    manufacturing and distribution group in cities in the Midwest** and
    the West."

Mexico Country Profile, Drug Enforcement Administration: November 2003

-   "Over the last 10 years, Mexican drug traffickers have developed
    international connections with chemical suppliers in Canada, Europe,
    Asia, and the Far East. With these connections, **Mexico-based
    organizations are able to obtain [ton quantities]{.underline} of the
    necessary chemicals**---specifically ephedrine and
    pseudoephedrine---needed to manufacture tremendous amounts of
    methamphetamine in clandestine laboratories in both Mexico and
    California."

-   "Another area of concern is the increasing purity of
    Mexican-produced methamphetamine. According to DEA's Special Testing
    and Research Laboratory, in 2003, **the national average purity for
    methamphetamine in the United States is 48%** \... **the Mexican
    methamphetamine purity level was [slightly over
    83%]{.underline}...**"

Meth Myths, Meth Realities; City Pages: May 14, 2003

-   **"If every meth lab in the state were shut down tomorrow, that
    would only address a small part of the state\'s meth problem...the
    vast majority of meth is imported. Paul Stevens (a special agent
    with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) estimates that
    80 percent of the meth in Minnesota comes from Mexico.** Easy access
    to bulk quantities of precursor chemicals allows the operators of
    Mexican \"super labs\" to churn out up to 50 pounds of product a
    day... Meanwhile, NAFTA has also worked in favor of the Mexican
    producers. With a huge increase in truck traffic between the U.S.
    and Mexico, smuggling product from one nation to the other has
    become much easier."