WHERE HAVE ALL THE METH LABS GONE? SOUTH OF THE BORDER

While methamphetamine labs peaked in California in 1999, evidence
suggests usage rates have remained flat with local demand now
supplied nearly exclusively with high quality ice methamphetamines from Mexico.

Meth remains the top drug-related concern of law enforcement in
California, according to a 2007 U.S. Department of Justice poll.
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman also considers it his top drug priority.

With few labs remaining in California, law enforcement resources up
and down the state have been refocused on the Mexican drug
trafficking organizations, which have taken over the wholesale
distribution of nearly all illicit drugs throughout the state.

Mexican D.T.O.s now dominate the wholesale distribution of ice or
meth, marijuana, cocaine and heroin throughout California, according
to federal and state law enforcement agencies. The D.T.O.s then
recruit affiliated street gangs Norteno and Sureno as well as outlaw
gangs such as the Hells Angels for retail distribution. The trading
of marijuana for ice is considered a key element in the distribution
of meth within Mendocino County.

Santa Rosa is considered the main transportation hub for meth
entering Mendocino and Lake counties. Earlier this year, federal and
state agents apparently cracked two cogs in the wholesale distribution system.

In April 2008, 29 pounds of ice methamphetamine was recovered by law
enforcement at a Santa Rosa trucking company, along with a small
amount of marijuana and cocaine. Earlier, in March 2008, agents
confiscated 27 pounds of ice, 69 pounds of marijuana, as well as
hashish, cocaine, and $46,000 in cash from an alleged distribution
ring bringing meth into the Santa Rosa area from Merced County. Most
other area busts have involved much smaller amounts of meth more
closely associated with the retail distribution network.

The two main Mexican drug trafficking organizations, according to the
U.S. D.O.J., influencing the Mendocino County drug scene are the
Federation cartel (a coalition of the Sinaloa, Juarez, and Valencia
cartels) with prime jurisdiction over the Bay Area and the Tijuana
cartel controlling central valley regions around the Sacramento and
Stockton areas.

Meth usage is flat:

Methamphetamine usage rates in California have failed to decline
despite the state policy change in 2000 requiring court ordered
treatment rather than incarceration for most possession cases. The
Mendocino County Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs patients
being treated primarily for amphetamines increased from 18 percent in
2000 to 27 percent in 2004, with most of the increase coming from
court referrals. Throughout California, the trend during the same
period was from 26.2 percent to 34 percent. California youth showed a
similar increase from 15.8 to 24.7 percent during the same period.

Meth lab numbers have plummeted:

The number of California clandestine labs peaked in 1999 with 2,579
meth labs, with eight in Mendocino County. At that time, California
had 80 percent of the country's labs and nearly all of the "super"
labs. Nearly one in five labs were found during this period as a
result of fires or explosions.

Narrowing restrictions on the raw materials needed to make meth has
drastically reduced the number of clandestine labs found during 2007
in California to only 221 reported throughout the state with none in
Mendocino County.

While a number of recipes to make methamphetamines exist, all require
ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or phenylpropanolamine to begin with.

In the Willits area, one small-scale lab was found at a fugitive's
hideout on Sherwood Road in 2008. The fugitive was dodging attempted
murder charges in Lake County stemming from an alleged marijuana
theft in Willits.

Broken glassware and a quart container partially filled with a
caustic material was discovered near a Brooktrails residential
marijuana grow late in 2007 that was considered a possible old meth
lab site. Mendocino County Environmental Health cleaned it up quickly
and the glassware was sent for forensic evaluation.

As the United States tightened the availability of the raw materials
needed for meth production at home, first at the wholesale and later
at the retail level, the amount of these materials being shipped into
Mexico sharply increased, primarily from China. This resulted in most
of the tons of pseudoephedrine and ephedrines imported into Mexico
being converted directly into high purity methamphetamines or "ice"
in "mega labs" according to most estimates. This abundance of "ice"
easily supplied the U.S. West Coast market and began making inroads
into the eastern states as well.

This creation of an unknown number of "mega" labs apparently caught
the Mexican authorities by surprise. A "superlab" in the United
States in the heyday of domestic meth production was considered any
lab making 10 or more pounds of meth per day. Most labs found by law
enforcement in California generated much smaller quantities, with the
typical meth user brewing up a batch to supply his or her habit with
enough left over to sell so they could buy the next batch of ingredients.

In 2006, Mexican authorities received an anonymous tip about a "mega"
lab in Guadalajara, Mexico. The lab was making about 400 pounds of
high purity "ice" each day. With Mexico's less restrictive
environmental laws, similar meth factories have reportedly sprouted
up in a number of industrial areas where they blend in amongst other
legitimate chemical plants.

Even the imposition of new import restrictions on precursor chemicals
has made little dent into the Mexican production, as the drug cartels
are finding ways to circumvent them, according to the U.S. Department
of Justice.