Difficulties send lab activities south of border (Arizona)

By JIM SECKLER

KINGMAN - Crank. Ice. Speed. Crystal.

The most common name is methamphetamine and it is tearing this county and nation apart piece by piece.

Cheap and easy to make, meth can be made using everyday household items.

The production of meth in homemade labs large and small has decreased in Mohave County in the last few years, Deputy Chief Jim McCabe said. However, the devastating use of meth has steadily increased with the county's burgeoning population.


The number of meth labs found has decreased in recent years because of law enforcement efforts and the increasing difficulty in buying items used to make meth. About four to five years ago, sheriff detectives raided 50 to 65 meth labs a year. Last year, only about a dozen or more labs were discovered, McCabe said.

In past years, many of those meth labs were found in the Bullhead City area largely because of gang activity in the area, McCabe said. In recent years, meth production has shifted to Mexico where large “super labs” produce larger and cheaper amounts and better quality meth.

Mexico does not have the regulations that this country has to purchase ingredients used to make the drug.

It is estimated that about 70 percent of the methamphetamine produced now comes from Mexico's super labs, which is then smuggled into this country.

http://www.mohavedailynews.com/articles/2006/03/26/news/local/local4.txt