![]() ![]() ![]() That’s because meth is flowing into the Northeast from superlabs run by the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels in Mexico, and they are capable of producing several tons of the drug weekly, Bonaventura said. Not only is the supply growing, but the drug has become highly potent and pure, according to Ron Bonaventura, a 25-year veteran of the federal drug control agency and the assistant special agent in charge of its New England division. By 2021, it had reached nearly 19 pounds. In 2017, the year after meth-lab busts peaked here, Maine drug agents seized only a third of a pound of the drug from traffickers. As drug cops turned off the tap for homemade meth, major drug traffickers moved in. Drug Enforcement Agency has published data, down from 2012’s high of 13,657. Just 890 were broken up across the country in 2019, the most recent year for which the U.S. It’s not just in Maine where the number of meth labs has fallen. The small-time cooks were out of business, and last year Maine drug agents seized just two meth labs, the fewest since 2009. So police cracked down on the small-time cooks, and lawmakers passed more punitive measures that made meth manufacturing a felony.īy 2017, the results were apparent. ![]() Maine drug enforcement officers work to carefully neutralize a container believed to be an active methamphetamine lab at a Brewer gas station in 2016. saw fewer labs, and workplace drug testing showed an apparent drop in meth use.īut the demand for the drug did not drop in tandem.Īfter the passage of Maine’s pseudoephedrine law, meth cooks adapted, using “ smurfs” - groups of people who go from pharmacy to pharmacy purchasing their pseudoephedrine allotment - to get the ingredients to make the drug. Early signs suggested their response worked: The U.S. It was among 40 states - and Congress - to pass laws by early 2006 restricting access to pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in homemade meth. That didn’t stop Maine from taking a preemptive strike against meth production while the drug ravaged the West. The low supply and demand prompted the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency to conclude, at the time, that meth “does not pose a threat to the state.” By 2002, that had fallen to just a tenth of a pound. The bulk of it, 8.8 pounds, came from Aroostook, more than any other New England county. In 1999, a little more than nine pounds were confiscated across Maine. More than 20 years ago, meth was just emerging in New England. The drop in the number of small-time meth makers has paved the way for a major surge in the drug, which is being pumped into the state by more sophisticated traffickers drawn by undiminished demand. Meth is as prevalent as ever despite years of police work to thwart the supply, underscoring the challenges of stemming drug use through enforcement. But as those drugs have become harder to find, others, such as meth and the highly potent synthetic opioid fentanyl, have become “readily available.” Before that, officers in the department were more likely to see opioids such as heroin or illicit prescription pills, according to Presque Isle police Chief Laurie Kelly. ![]()
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