Crackdowns on ingredients used to make homemade methampetamine have succeeded in closing down local meth labs, but Mexican drug traffickers have moved quickly to resupply the U.S. market for the drug, experts say.

The Washington Post reported April 13 that attorneys general from Virginia, Maryland, and six other states recently met to discuss the problem of meth trafficking and use. The officials described the drug as pernicious and warned other state officials that if the drug is not yet in their communities, it will be soon.

"I think my colleagues would agree it is probably the ugliest drug that has come down the pike in 40 years," said Virginia Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell. "It is highly addictive. It is poor man's crack."

The officials said that Mexican gangs are mass-producing meth and shipping it to Atlanta, and from there to other U.S. cities. McDonnell said that up to 90 percent of meth in Virginia is coming from Mexico; meanwhile, local meth labs have been disappearing.

Moreover, the involvement of Mexican drug gangs appears to be linked to rising meth-related crime.

McDonnell said that "tough, rock-solid law enforcement strategies" would be looked at to address the problem, but the attorneys general also spoke of the need for more drug treatment.

"Even as we are doing everything we can from the law-enforcement aspect, we have a generation of addicts out there," said Kentucky Attorney General Gregory D. Stumbo. "We don't have adequate treatment facilities. We know how to put people in jail, but I think we all need to recognize there is more to this problem than incarceration."