The charade that is the drug war, and I'm tired of it.
"Calif. authorities seek to halt rise of crystal meth labs" by Scott Smith | Associated Press June 15, 2014
FRESNO, Calif. — In methamphetamine’s seedy underworld, traffickers are disguising the drug as a liquid to smuggle it into the United States from Mexico.
Dissolved in a solution, it’s sealed in tequila bottles or plastic detergent containers to fool border agents and traffic officers. Once deep in California’s Central Valley, a national distribution hub, meth cooks convert it into crystals — the most sought-after form on the street.
Tough policing has driven the highly toxic super-labs south of the border where meth is manufactured outside the sight of US law enforcement, but the smaller conversion labs are popping up domestically in neighborhoods, such as one in Fresno where a house exploded two years ago.
People inside the home had sealed it tightly so the telltale fumes didn’t give them away.
‘‘These guys, they don’t have PhDs in chemistry,’’ said Sergeant Matt Alexander of the Fresno County sheriff’s office. ‘‘They’re focused on not getting caught.’’
Investigators say it’s impossible to know how much liquid meth crosses the border, but agents in Central California say they have been seeing more of it in the past few years.
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Officers raided a Madera home earlier this year, finding a lab used to convert liquid meth into 176 pounds of crystals with a street value of more than $1 million. Nobody was arrested, but agents said the bust dealt a blow to the organization behind the lab.
Looks like a government lab to me!
Mike Prado, resident agent in charge of the US Department of Homeland Security Investigation’s Fresno office, said law enforcement agencies are always watching for creative ways cartels smuggle meth.
To give them more efficient ideas for their own smuggling.
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Prado said his agents have found the meths labs in densely populated apartment buildings, and in foreclosed homes in quiet neighborhoods where children play on the street.
In the conversion process, cooks evaporate off the liquid and use highly combustible chemicals such as acetone to make crystals. The fumes are trapped inside. ‘‘A spark can turn this into a fireball,’’ Prado said.
That’s what happened in 2012, when a home in a middle-class area of Fresno was blown off its foundation. The blast shot the air conditioner into a neighbor’s yard; another neighbor had to replace a roof rippled by the concussion. Two men ran from the home and investigators said a third was seriously injured.
Central California’s interstate highways and proximity to Mexico make it an attractive distribution hub for cartels, officials say.
Related: The Iron Pipeline Between Massachusetts and Vermont
John Donnelly, until recently in charge of the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s Fresno office, said agents all over the country have tracked meth to California’s Central Valley. ‘‘We’re the source point for Seattle, Portland, Alaska, and as far east as the Carolinas,’’ Donnelly said.
Not all the meth traveling north makes its way to Central California. Two men were arrested last month in San Bernardino when investigators found a conversion lab, 206 pounds of crystal meth, and 250 gallons of the liquid capable of producing 1,250 pounds of crystals.
The seized drugs, which investigators suspect came from Mexico, were valued at $7.2 million.
And not all liquid meth makes it across the border. Last year, a 16-year-old from Mexico was stopped at the crossing near San Diego. He volunteered to take ‘‘a big sip’’ to convince inspectors that the liquid he had was only apple juice, not meth. The teenager began screaming in pain and died within hours.
Eric L. Olson, a Latin America researcher at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, said he witnessed agents seize liquid meth disguised in soda bottles during a 2012 tour of the border crossing at Laredo, Texas.
I'm glad I don't soda.
Liquid meth is just the latest innovation for transporting drugs for profit, he said. Smugglers have used tunnels, submarines, drones, and once, Olson said, a 90-year-old farmer was used as a decoy.
‘‘There’s no end to the creativity to getting the drug to market when there’s demand,’’ he said of the turn to liquid meth.
I wish I could say the same about the propaganda pre$$.
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Also see: Meth House Cleanup Makes Me Mad
I hope I don't have a hangover tomorrow.
Of course, if I used the stuff I would be blogging nonstop.
