Bush Admin. Wants to Cut Meth Use 15 Percent

Bush Admin. Wants to Cut Meth Use 15 Pct.
Thursday, June 1, 2006


(06-01) 16:14 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --


The Bush administration wants to cut methamphetamine use in the United States by 15 percent by 2009, relying on cooperation with Mexico and steps at home that include expanded random drug testing in schools.


Administration officials said Thursday they have reduced the number of U.S. labs that make meth but have not been able to stem the flow of the cheap and highly addictive drug from Mexico, estimated to be the source of 80 percent of the U.S. supply.


snip...
Fewer than 600,000 Americans use meth, just two-tenths of 1 percent of the nation's population, according to administration estimates. But more than the half the nation's counties count meth as their top problem, said John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

He said the administration supports increased drug testing in schools as a sort of early warning program.

"It is a way to cut down student failure, truancy, gang membership," Walters said. The decision to test students will remain with individual districts, he said.

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/06/01/national/w141559D91.DTL&type=politics

:smoke:

Methamphetamine is manufactured domestically.

Mexican meth is made directly from ephedrine, not the pseudoephedrine the cookers use in the US. With ephedrine you get more meth faster.

Plus the labs are larger because they're in the middle of the desert, not in someone's basement.

IIRC about 80 percent of the meth used in the US was cooked in Mexico.

...any reduction of meth use by this administration would have to be be an improvement.

Meth use needs to be cut by 100%, through decriminialization and free rehab. That's what a real leader would do.

BTW, what does he plan on doing about the pep-pill problem in Iraq?

Only a handful of pharmaceutical manufacturers produce the base ingredients used in thousands of OTC cold/allergy/sinus meds. They are only supposed to sell to licensed drug companies, but their sales "oversight" is notoriously lax. Apparently, Mexican cartels have increasingly taken the opportunity and are essentially middle men, as well as producers. The source could be curtailed, at the *original* plants.

That recent documentary on meth had a great interview with the now disgruntled DEA official who was part of the effort to block quaalude availability years ago by blocking the sales of the base ingredient from the pharmaceutical manufacturer. His point - this ain't cocaine or heroin, with a broad network of indigenous, local growers funneling raw product to a production/sales chain. There's only a few, large companies that have the capability to manufacture the initial ingredients needed to make meth.

No patriotic American would support such a thing. I'm sure that once the board of directors of Big Pharma know of the problem blah, blah blah. :sarcasm: Look for *Co taint.

to restrict sales to "big pharma". So, it's kind of a gray area. Regulators aren't doing the job over there, black market side sales are made, and the legitimate end customers - which is big pharma here and in EU -aren't voicing a concern, apparently. Beyond that, I'm unclear on all the relationships. The frustrating thing is that the supply is so specific, black market sales could be nipped at the source.

What rights will we strip away in the battle against meth?

testing on kids. It's another invasion of privacy.

and he's going for 1% of the american population in prison before
he's out of office... what a goal to live for.

into rehab.

make more beds avail. People want help, but there are not enough slots in programs.

Attacks drugs and the border all at once. Why not just randomly arrest students?



Translation: it's not a big problem, but we want to make it one.

Meth Madness at Newsweek: This is your magazine on drugs.

The country needs a moral panic education before the media vampires their minds. Oh, too late!

600000 that's crazy the number was higher than that in the 90's.If that were the extent why waste the resources.