How & Where Meth Is Manufactured

Originally, methamphetamine was very prevalent in rural areas, because that's just about the only place you could cook meth without being detected. And because it was originally extremely inexpensive, it become known as "Hillbilly Crack." These small, amateur labs became known as "mom and pop" level meth labs, because more often than not, either mom or pop, or both of them were doing the actual cooking.

Any law enforcement officer will tell you that no matter how diligent and dedicated they are, often their job seems like trying to plug holes in a dam that just keeps developing new holes.

So while initially small labs went way, way, down, now as we round out 2008, the small meth lab has not only become more prevalent again, it's not even harder to detect. And that's because new methods of obtaining chemicals for methamphetamine have been found, new and faster methods of cooking meth have been developed, and frankly, many meth cooks have simply become smarter about not getting caught.

And it's also a common misconception that small-level meth cooks only still operate in rural trailer parks, or shacks and run-down motels. Working meth labs, meth ingredients, tools, meth recipes and other paraphernalia for making meth have been discovered in schools, hotel rooms, moving vans, car trunks, mobile homes, apartments, multi-million dollar mansions, indoor driving ranges, restaurants, bowling alleys, senior citizen homes, homes for the mentally challenged, funeral homes, boat marinas and churches. In fact quite recently, a meth lab was found in the largest Kosher meat producing plant in the U.S.

But it's also a misconception to think that anymore than a tiny percentage of meth in North America is produced in small labs. The output of a single domestic meth superlab is equal to the output of countless small labs. Add imported meth to the equation, and the production of small domestic labs becomes almost insignificant. Until of course, you're affected by one because it's in your community, you live beside one, you move into what used to be one, you stay in a hotel room that was used as one, so on and so on and so on. The real danger of the small meth lab is not the amount of meth they produce for the street. The real danger (as you'll learn in the next section) is that a small meth lab is capable of destroying the street.

What we can learn from the incredible proliferation of small labs over the last six or seven years is what's likely to ensue with larger labs, operating both here in North America and other countries, because there's a common denominator. And that common denominator is the availability of precursor chemicals for making meth, because when there are the raw materials available for making meth, someone will make it. And why? Because there are billions of dollars to be made, and money doesn't talk - it screams.

So if the spread or proliferation of meth superlabs follows the same "arc" as small lab proliferation, what we have forming is a veritable tidal wave of methamphetamine on its way to various locations throughout the world, North America being prime among them. For example:

In 2006, enforcement officials seized a meth superlab in Guadalajara, Mexico that was thought to be the largest methamphetamine lab in the Western Hemisphere. That lab was capable of producing 400 pounds of methamphetamine per day. Think about that for a moment. One lab - 400 pounds per day. It certainly makes the amount of meth we collected in our 2006 Google search look tiny doesn't it? Just recently in 2007 (March) authorities in Mexico seized 205 million dollars IN CASH from methamphetamine producers in Mexico, located in one of Mexico's most high-end neighborhoods. The money was primarily in U.S. 100 bills, and weighed two and a quarter tons.

But note that we said that the Guadalajara meth lab was suspected of being the largest lab in the Western Hemisphere, because that's an important point. And that's because Mexico is only the most high profile producer of meth right now, they're not by any means the sole producer. Locations in Asia, India, China, Columbia are just a few of the countries producing finished meth and precursor chemicals for making meth. And as we've stated previously, our own country Canada is involved in the production of meth, importation and exportation of meth, as well as supplying the precursor chemicals for it. Which brings us to another area of the world that many believe is a large player, perhaps even the player in the evolving story of where meth is made.

Jeremy Douglas, Regional Project Coordinator for the United Nations - Office On Drugs And Crime says Asia is "the undisputed methamphetamine capital of the world" and there are many that would agree with that statement. We know all too well how quickly Asian manufacturers can take almost anything and make it faster, cheaper and more readily accessible to more people. And it appears they're no different when it comes to methamphetamine. In fact if we think we have a problem with meth in North America now, consider that a gram of meth in China costs six dollars U.S. Compare that with a hundred to three hundred per gram in the U.S. and Canada. Here are a few other facts:

Manufacture of crystal methamphetamine is facilitated by the availability of precursor chemicals, such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine. The unrestricted availability of these chemicals in the country facilitates the production of massive quantities of crystal methamphetamine in China and North Korea. Seizure information indicates that methamphetamine laboratories are located in provinces along the eastern and southeastern coastal areas of China.

Many of the traffickers for the clandestine crystal methamphetamine laboratories are from organized crime groups based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. Several ports in southern China serve as transit points for crystal methamphetamine transported by containerized cargo to international drug markets, including but not limited to Canada and the U.S.

As far as direct shipments of "finished meth" from China, Australia and New Zealand are already beginning to log some massive seizures measuring in the hundreds of kilograms at a time. Each of China's many meth factories are capable of producing up to 120 pounds of crystal meth or "ice" methamphetamine per day.

Seizures of methamphetamine originating from Asia are typically measured in tons, not pounds. The countries who are presently most affected by this seem to be New Zealand and Australia, but many see those countries as mere appetizers to fill the demand for consumption of drugs. The main course is as always, North America, and Canada is already being used as a conduit that feeds to the U.S.
North Korea is now shipping out huge quantities of finished methamphetamine, their latest prime target being The Philippines. (see side bar excerpt) As you can see, this high-grade meth eventually makes it's way in to both Canada and the U.S.

Frankly, monitoring the international movement of meth and its precursors is too big a project for us to handle on our own here at All Positive Options. But the handwriting is on the wall. Both in the U.S. and Canada, if we continue to invest the bulk of our time, effort and government funding on trying to choke off the supply of methamphetamine, the "war on methamphetamine" is over. As with cocaine, we will have lost. There are just too many places willing to fill the role of supplier.