Pubdate: Sun, 20 Nov 2005
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
20 Nov 2005Source: The Oregonian
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)

MEXICO CUTS COLD-DRUG IMPORTS TO BATTLE METH

Drug War - the New Policy Restricting Pseudoephedrine Could Crimp The
Flow of Meth to the United States and Drive Up Its Street Cost

Mexico plans to slash imports of pseudoephedrine by 40 percent this
year, acknowledging that drug cartels have artificially inflated
demand for the key ingredient in methamphetamine.

Health officials in Mexico said the country has been importing more
pseudoephedrine than its citizens need for cold medicine, and imports
will be cut from 224 tons in 2004 to 134 tons in 2005.

Mexico's new policy is among the boldest by any country to prevent
diversion of the cold-medicine ingredient by drug traffickers. And it
could disrupt at least temporarily the main source of meth production
for the United States, reducing the drug's availability to an
estimated 1.4 million American users.

Mexico, the United States and Canada have all now taken steps to
curtail sales of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine, and legal
imports of the raw material are falling. If traffickers are forced to
smuggle cold medicine into Mexico or to buy it from other countries,
the cost of meth could rise, leading users to quit.

In addition to the 40 percent reduction in imports this year, the
Mexican ambassador to the United States told U.S. lawmakers that
imports eventually will be cut to 1999 levels -- a 77 percent
reduction from 2004. Mexican customs records show the country imported
51 tons in 1999.

The new restrictions in Mexico follow an investigation by The
Oregonian in June that revealed Mexico was importing about twice as
much pseudoephedrine as needed for cold medicine.

Mexican-run "superlabs" make 65 percent of meth in the United States,
according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Mexican
traffickers began acquiring massive quantities of pseudoephedrine in
Mexico because Canadian and U.S. regulators clamped down on
manufacturers and distributors of cold medicine. The new source of
supply allowed meth production to rise, driving the purity of meth
this year to its highest level in a decade.

The Oregonian's findings prompted outrage among some U.S. lawmakers.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., urged Mexican President Vicente
Fox to investigate, and the House voted 423-2 for a bill that could
cut aid to countries that import too much pseudoephedrine.

Following Mexico's Lead

Now, Congress is on the verge of approving anti-meth legislation that
would pressure other countries to follow Mexico's example in
curtailing pseudoephedrine imports.

The legislation would require U.S. officials to compare global
production with legitimate demand, impose import quotas in the United
States, and allow closer tracking of sales from foreign factories to
other countries. The idea is to help U.S. authorities spot spikes in
pseudoephedrine sales around the world, which law enforcement
officials expect to occur as traffickers adapt to Mexico's new
restrictions.

Already, United Nations statistics show some anomalies. Canada last
year exported 12 tons of raw pseudoephedrine to Panama, a documented
route of diversion for Mexican traffickers. Panama's imports were 1.7
tons the year before. India exported 2 metric tons of pseudoephedrine
to Montserrat, a Caribbean island nation of about 9,000
inhabitants.

History has shown that severing the supply of meth ingredients to
Mexico's drug cartels can dramatically curtail the meth trade.

Last year, The Oregonian reported in its five-part series "Unnecessary
Epidemic" that tighter regulation over the domestic and international
trade in the legal chemical during the 1990s created two major
shortages of meth in the 1990s. The shortages caused purity to fall
and prices to rise, leading users quit.

U.S. lawmakers praised Mexico's announcement of a clampdown on
pseudoephedrine imports.

"We welcome any steps Mexico is taking" to control imports, said
Anthony Gostanian, a spokesman for Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. Calvert
is co-chairman of the House Meth Caucus.

"This is an important step forward, which I hope will signal a new
cooperation on fighting the meth epidemic," Feinstein said in a
written statement.

Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., a co-founder of the meth caucus, said
Mexico's import reductions and additional controls on the sale of cold
medicine in Mexico are "a heck of a start."

"The notion that they're going to track all of this better is exactly
right," Baird said.

Tighter Controls

With the import reductions announced last week, Mexico has now gone
much further than required by United Nations drug treaties.

Even the United States, the largest consumer of meth in North America,
currently lacks import quotas for bulk pseudoephedrine. And many
countries consider products containing pseudoephedrine to be exempt
from U.N.-mandated controls, leaving trade in cold medicine
unregulated.

But Mexico's Federal Commission for the Protection from Health Risks
has interpreted international law more rigorously.

The commission, known as COFEPRIS, has canceled the import permits of
seven major chemical suppliers. Six of those were among the largest
importers of pseudoephedrine in the country in 2004.

Only pharmaceutical companies will be allowed to import the chemical
in the future, an effort to reduce the chance of diversion by drug
traffickers.

Mexican officials also have announced that only licensed pharmacies
with a full-time pharmacist will be allowed to sell cold medicines
containing pseudoephedrine. That will reduce the number of retail
drugstores allowed to carry the product in Mexico to 17,000 from
51,000, the commission said. The retailers must store the products
behind the counter.

The commission in the past year has shut down 25 wholesalers and
retail pharmacies in northern Mexico that were selling excessive
amounts of cold medicine, the commission said in a statement to The
Oregonian.

The reason for all of these moves, the commission said, is "an excess
in the supply of cold products, which are being diverted for illicit
purposes."

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., a co-chairman of the Meth Caucus, said
Mexican Ambassador Carlos de Icaza revealed on Thursday that the
ultimate goal is a reduction to 1999 levels. Rafael Laveaga, an
embassy spokesman, said the ambassador does not comment on his
conversations with U.S. lawmakers.

Larsen said the new restrictions suggest Mexico is coming closer to
matching its import level to legitimate medical need. He said the
approach must be expanded to include South American countries that may
become sources of diversion for Mexican traffickers.

"The next step would be for a continentwide approach," Larsen
said.

A Recent Concern

Mexico's imports of pseudoephedrine have been rising steadily since
1999, as U.S. and Canadian officials put the squeeze on companies that
were supplying massive quantities to drug traffickers.

But until recently, the shift by traffickers to obtain cold medicine
in Mexico was not widely seen as a source of supply for the meth trade.

Mexico's top narcotics prosecutor, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos,
played down Mexico's legal pseudoephedrine imports in a March
interview with The Oregonian. He said cold medicine made in Mexico was
a minor source of supply for drug traffickers.

Mexican health officials, meanwhile, acknowledged the problem, telling
U.S. drug agents earlier this year that Mexico planned to reduce
imports by 30 percent.

The Mexican agency decided to cut import levels even further after
reviewing proposed production levels of cold medicine by
pharmaceutical companies. Some companies "were not able to justify
their therapeutical needs" for pseudoephedrine, said Greta Spota
Diericx, a Mexican health official who is coordinating the development
of new pseudoephedrine rules.

Mexico's reduction to 134 tons should bring imports roughly in line
with The Oregonian's estimate of Mexico's legitimate demand.

The newspaper's analysis, based on industry sales statistics and other
data, showed Mexican pharmaceutical companies required 90 to 130 tons
of pseudoephedrine to meet the legitimate needs of consumers.

Canceling import permits has already crimped the flow of
pseudoephedrine into the country, customs data show. Through
September, the country had imported 93 tons, down from 170 tons in the
same period last year.

Baird said he still supports requiring the State Department to examine
pseudoephedrine imports each year in reviewing the anti-drug efforts
of Mexico and other countries, a process known as "certification."

"It would be wrong and presumptuous of us to assume that the only
reason they would do this is that we have a certification provision in
the bill," Baird said.

"By the same token, I think putting that in the bill sends a pretty
strong message. And frankly, if they're doing these kinds of things, I
don't think they should have a great fear about certification."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake