Oklahoma, which has touted the success of a state law to cut the supply of chemicals used to make home-brewed methamphetamine, has been hit by a wave of cheap Mexican meth, the Oregonian reported Sept. 25.Congress is considering a national version of an Oklahoma law that restricts access to cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, which can be used to make meth. The law was credited with a decline in clandestine meth labs in Oklahoma.
But experts say that the law, passed last year, has done little to cut meth use or related crime in the state. The reason: meth produced at "superlabs" in Mexico has flooded in to resupply the Oklahoma market.
"We have seen a lot of publicity associated with people's access to the ingredients," said Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth. "But from our local government experience, we have not seen a corresponding decline in either the jail population or the social effects that seem to have still lingered from high meth use."
"We took away their production," added Tom Cunningham, task-force coordinator for the Oklahoma District Attorneys' Council. "That didn't do anything for their addiction."
Average meth purity has hit an all-time high -- 75 percent pure today, compared to 37 percent in 2003 -- according to an analysis by the Oregonian. Federal officials estimate that smalltime meth labs produce 35 percent of the drug consumed in the U.S., while Mexican cartels produce the other 65 percent.
The Mexican meth started coming in to Oklahoma soon after the law passed last year. "It hit us without much delay," said Lt. Charles Smallwood, a drug investigator with the Mayes County Sheriff's Office. "We started seeing commercial methamphetamine almost immediately."
The one major benefit of the law has been that local police can spend less time and effort attacking and closing down clandestine meth labs -- a dirty, laborious task -- and more time chasing big-time criminals.
"For years, every week we came to work, it was, 'How many labs do we have this week?' " said Kevin McIntire, supervisor of the drug task force in Ardmore, Okla. "We're having to refocus on the bigger picture."
"We're going for those eight, 10 people at the top who are directly connected to the cartel people at the border," said Lonnie Wright, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control. "We're back to working Mr. Big."
Some in Congress say that the U.S. needs to put pressure on Mexico to put a dent in meth production. "We need to have the same energy going after shutting down the importing of meth from Mexico and other countries as we have going after the cold pills," said Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-Minn). "In fact, we have to have greater energy because it's a greater source of supply."
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