Obama's Mexico visit whitewashes its crime, drug problem

August 10, 1:22 PMLaw Enforcement ExaminerJim Kouri

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While people on both sides of the US-Mexico border expected to hear President Barack Obama plan for dealing with problems involving drug smuggling, violence, crime and illegal aliens, they were treated only to the usual flowery language that is the hallmark of an Obama speech. 

Obama flew into Guadalajara,  Mexico's second-largest city late Sunday for a two-day speed summit with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but many observers believe there is little chance of any agreement on how to stop illegal aliens pouring into the US or the deadly flow of drugs from Mexico.

As methamphetamine abuse continues its scourge of the country, state and federal elected officials have worked over the last two years to pass laws restricting sales of over the counter products containing pseudoephedrine.

The federal anti-meth law was recently amended so that states could still impose their own laws as long as they meet the minimum requirements of the federal version. This allows states such as Oklahoma, whose law went into effect more than a year ago, to keep their tighter restrictions on the amount of pills sold.

With the passage of these new laws, several state narcotics bureaus have reported the number of meth lab busts to be down by as much as 90 percent over the previous year, however the absence of home-cooked meth has not produced a decline in overall use of the drug. In fact, a different form of the drug, known commonly as ice, has become more prevalent in its place.

Ice is a very pure, smokable form of methamphetamine that is more addictive than other forms of the substance. Ice is similar in appearance to rock candy, crushed ice, or broken glass. It contains the same active chemical compound as powder methamphetamine, but undergoes a recrystallization process in which some impurities in the methamphetamine are removed. The finished product is allowed to dry into crystal chunks that are broken into rocks for sale.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says that historically, criminal groups from South Korea, Taiwan, or China supplied ice to Hawaii and parts of California, but the availability of Mexican-produced ice has increased abuse in areas of the country that were previously untouched.

Because it metabolizes much slower than cocaine, methamphetamine has longer lasting effects. Agitation, tremors, hypertension, memory loss, hallucinations, psychotic episodes, paranoid delusions, and violent behavior can result from chronic abuse.

US prisons and addiction treatment centers have also seen a dramatic increase in what is known as meth mouth, which is the extreme deterioration of dental health because of the damage caused by the chemicals used to make the drug and lack of proper nutrition. Withdrawal from high doses of methamphetamine often produces severe depression.

In a recent case, court documents alleged that a number of Mexican drug traffickers use juveniles to sell or smuggle methamphetamine. For example, a group of individuals led by Jorge Arreola-Gomez distributed large amounts of methamphetamine in southern California and elsewhere. Among those charged with Arreola are two sisters, his wife, his mother, and two brothers-in-law. According to the indictment, the defendants used numerous couriers to transport drugs domestically and across the US-Mexico border.

According to court documents, the investigation led to the seizure of over 140 pounds of methamphetamine, 20 pounds of pseudoephedrine (a nasal decongestant commonly used to manufacture methamphetamine), over $25,000 in currency, and one firearm.