Pubdate: Tue, 02 Aug 2005 Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) 768 3270690.xml&coll=7 Copyright: 2005 The Oregonian Contact: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324 Author: Steve Suo Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) MEXICAN SUPPLIERS SWITCHING STRATEGIES TO MAKE METH Traffickers Are Turning To Legal Cold Medicines Made In Mexico As Their Ingredient Source, A Key Law Enforcement Official Says One of Mexico's top law enforcement officials on Monday acknowledged that methamphetamine traffickers have targeted the country's legal cold medicine industry as a leading source of pseudoephedrine -- the meth trade's essential ingredient. But the official defended Mexico's response to the problem, saying authorities are moving aggressively to halt sales of the cold medicine to drug traffickers. "They process these products to use them for amphetamine and to sell it in an illegal way. That is precisely the problem," said Miguel Angel Gonzalez Felix, international affairs coordinator for Mexico's attorney general. "But this is a general problem that is happening in many countries. Mexico has taken all the steps that are necessary, or the steps that have been recognized, as the correct way to solve this problem." Gonzalez' remarks follow an investigation by The Oregonian, published in June, that found Mexican drug companies now import about twice as much pseudoephedrine as the legitimate market requires. The country's imports of the chemical shot from 66 tons in 2000 to 224 tons in 2004, helping fuel the meth trade. U.S. officials say Mexico is now the main source of meth sold in the United States. The U.S. House responded to the newspaper's findings in July with a measure that could withhold foreign aid if Mexico and other countries failed to control the diversion of pseudoephedrine. State Department officials would have to estimate the legitimate demand for cold medicine among top importers of pseudoephedrine -- such as Mexico -- and certify that such countries are doing enough to prevent illicit sales. Gonzalez said the Mexican government has no concerns about the measure because the country is cooperating fully with U.S. officials to tightly regulate the sale of pseudoephedrine products. "We do not have a problem if the U.S. Congress wants to have these kinds of reports," Gonzalez said. "I understand the concern of the U.S. side. But we are working on the problem, so we are not concerned." Gonzalez noted that Mexican authorities in the past year have restricted the quantity of bulk pseudoephedrine that companies may import for the manufacture of cold medicine. They also have limited the amount of finished cold pills that may be sold to distributors and by pharmacies to the general public. In the past two years, Gonzalez said, Mexican authorities have seized and destroyed 44 meth labs. They hope to do more as they acquire training and equipment. But Mexican customs data show that through April, imports of bulk pseudoephedrine were on a pace to nearly match the amount imported in 2004. And in the United States, the purity of meth seized or purchased undercover has continued to rise -- a strong indicator of the drug's abundance. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials say Mexican drug-trafficking organizations manufacture about 65 percent of meth sold in the United States. About 53 percent of the production is from superlabs in Mexico, and 12 percent from superlabs in the United States. Gonzalez said DEA officials have not informed him of the rising purity of meth in the United States, and he disputed the assertion that meth production in Mexico is increasing. He said seizures of finished methamphetamine in Mexico have declined this year following government efforts to control pseudoephedrine sales. He agreed, however, that the diversion of pseudoephedrine from the Mexican drug industry is the current trend among traffickers. "It has switched from the chemical precursors to the cold medicine," he said. "What they do is they (divert) the ephedrine and the pseudoephedrine that is legal to the production of illegal drugs. That is what we have seen." Gonzalez' comments represent a new view among Mexican law enforcement officials. Deputy Attorney General Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, in an interview with The Oregonian in March, repeatedly denied that Mexican-made cold medicine was a major source of pseudoephedrine for the meth trade. Vasconcelos said cold pills smuggled from Hong Kong were the primary supply of the chemical for Mexican traffickers. Gonzalez described the diversion of pseudoephedrine products in Mexico as a new development that has emerged only in recent months. He said the government has acted swiftly to thwart the traffickers. He predicted Mexico, like the United States, increasingly would shift to using cold medicines that do not contain pseudoephedrine. Mexico has the same concerns as the United States, he said: The country fears its citizens will become addicted to meth. "We see the problem of synthetic drugs as a new area," Gonzalez said. Without efforts to stop meth, he said, the drug could become "as important as, or even a substitute for, the market and the consumption of other illegal drugs." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth