Meth's Path Of Destruction, Part 6 of 7

INTERSTATE 5 IS DRUG PIPELINE

Like a sneaker wave that catches a beachcomber by surprise, California-made
methamphetamine swept into the Pacific Northwest, flooding the drug market.
Meth traffickers then extended their tentacles into the Midwest.

"It is now not uncommon to find hundreds of major methamphetamine
traffickers from Mexico, most of them illegal aliens, established in Boise,
Des Moines, Omaha, and other cities in America's heartland, where there has
been an explosion of methamphetamine use," states a DEA report.

Most recently, meth has gained a foothold in the southeastern United
States. Only the Northeast has been spared the drug's destructive sweep.

Federal officials said California carries the dubious label of "meth
capital of the world." So much meth is produced there that federal
officials now consider the state as a "source nation" for the drug.

The DEA estimates that 70 percent to 90 percent of this country's meth
production and distribution is controlled by Mexican-based groups operating
out of Mexico and California.

Nearly 7,000 meth labs were discovered nationwide in 1999. Fully one-third,
about 2,700, were seized in California. More tellingly, 97 percent of the
largest scale labs, known as super labs, were found there.

Super labs are capable of producing anywhere from 10 to 100 pounds in a day
or two, DEA officials said. That's a huge volume for a drug sold in grams
on the street.

Along the West Coast, meth's distributors operate up and down the
Interstate 5 corridor, from Los Angeles to Seattle. Salem-area drug dealers
use I-5 to peddle meth from Woodburn to Albany.

"It's what we would commonly refer to as a pipeline," said Kenneth Magee,
assistant special agent in charge of the DEA's Portland office.

Federal officials cited Salem's proximity to I-5 as a big factor in 1999
when they declared Marion County a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Two other counties — Jackson County in Southern Oregon and Deschutes County
in Central Oregon — carry the same designations.

Oregon's federally funded HIDTA office, based in Salem, provides financial
support for local drug-fighting efforts. A small staff also analyzes
statewide drug trafficking patterns.

Charles Karl, Oregon's HIDTA director, said meth users and dealers here
increasingly are making their own supplies instead of buying from organized
Mexican crime groups.

"It's shifting a lot from importation to home production, which really
brings the problem home to roost," he said.