Eideard

The historic seizure of 15 tons of pure methamphetamine in western Mexico, equal to half of all meth seizures worldwide in 2009, feeds growing speculation that the country could become a world platform for meth production, not just a supplier to the United States.

The sheer size of the bust announced late Wednesday in Jalisco state suggests involvement of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, a major international trafficker of cocaine and marijuana that has moved into meth production and manufacturing on an industrial scale…

Jalisco has long been considered the hub of the Sinaloa cartel’s meth production and trafficking. Meanwhile, meth use is growing in the United States, already the world’s biggest market for illicit drugs.

The haul could have supplied 13 million doses worth over $4 billion on U.S. streets.

The Sinaloa cartel, headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is equipped to produce and distribute drugs “for the global village,” said Antonio Mazzitelli, the regional representative of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

“Such large-scale production could suggest an expansion … into Latin American and Asian markets,” Mazzitelli said…

There were no people found on the ranch or arrests made…

Golly. There’s a surprise.

A shortage of Adderall, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, shows little sign of easing as manufacturers struggle to get enough active ingredient to make the drug and demand climbs.

Adderall, a stimulant, is a controlled substance, meaning it is addictive and has the potential to be abused. The Drug Enforcement Administration tightly regulates how much of the drug’s active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) can be distributed to manufacturers each year…

Increasingly that estimate is coming into conflict with what companies themselves say they need to meet demand for the drug, which is reaching all-time highs. In 2010, more than 18 million prescriptions were written for Adderall, up 13.4 percent from 2009, according to IMS Health, which tracks prescription data…

‘All-time highs” – A deliberate choice of words?

ADHD is one of the most common childhood disorders. An average of 9 percent of children between the ages of five and 17 are diagnosed with ADHD per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms include difficulty staying focused, hyperactivity and difficulty controlling behavior. If they are not properly medicated, children with ADHD may act out and be held back in class; adolescents might engage in impulsive, risky behavior; adults are at greater risk of being fired from their jobs…

And living in a nation that chooses symptomatic treatment over any other, we are all required to nod our bobbleheads and worry about a shortage of drugs for the next generation of junkies.

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Detention Center named for Sheriff Sullivan – now holds him

Patrick Sullivan was the kind of lawman Coloradoans loved: a straight-shooting Republican sheriff who once crashed a Jeep through a fence to rescue two deputies from a gunman and pleaded with legislators to keep assault weapons off the street lest any more citizens get shot.

On Tuesday afternoon, though, investigators from the same sheriff’s department he oversaw for nearly two decades found themselves monitoring a home near Denver that Mr. Sullivan was seen entering. Soon after, the police arrested Mr. Sullivan, now 68 and retired from the Arapahoe County sheriff’s office, on charges that he had been trying to exchange methamphetamines for sex with a man. He was booked that night at a local county jail that proudly bears his name…

Sheriff Robinson said the police began an investigation into Mr. Sullivan’s activities on Nov. 17 after several people informed the authorities that he might be involved with methamphetamines…

According to a probable cause statement filed in court on Wednesday morning, two confidential informers told the police that they had engaged in sexual activity with Mr. Sullivan before, in exchange for methamphetamines or cash…

Mr. Sullivan, whose dramatic rescue of his deputies in 1989 was captured on television, was named national Sheriff of the Year in 2001 and became a widely respected law enforcement figure here.

Certainly this wouldn’t disqualify him from running for office again as a Republican candidate? I bet he’d do well in a primary.

Thirteen soldiers in Mexico have been charged with drug trafficking after they were allegedly found in possession of almost a tonne of the synthetic drug methamphetamine and 30kg of cocaine…

The military commander in Tijuana, Gen Alfonso Duarte, said the accused had been transporting the drugs by land from the capital, Mexico City, to Tijuana.

The Mexican Ministry of Defence said it would not tolerate such acts and announced that the men would be brought before a military court. [That means they didn't get their cut.] According to the United Nations’ 2010 World Drug Report, the US methamphetamine market is predominantly supplied from Mexican-based criminal groups.

The report says that the number, size and sophistication of meth laboratories in Mexico has increased dramatically over the past five years, as well as the amount of methamphetamine trafficked into the US.

Certainly Congress should convene a special hearing to determine whether or not US-based initiatives are defeated by economics like this. Can American motorcycle gangs afford to stay in business with foreign competition like this?

Exploiting loopholes in the global economy, Mexican crime syndicates are importing mass quantities of the cold medicines and common chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine – turning Mexico into the No. 1 source for all meth sold in the United States, law enforcement agents say.

Nearly three years ago, the Mexican government appeared on the verge of controlling the sale of chemicals used to make the drugs, but the syndicates have since moved to the top of the drug trade.

Cartels have quickly learned to use dummy corporations and false labeling and take advantage of lax customs enforcement in China, India and Bangladesh to smuggle tons of the pills into Mexico for conversion into methamphetamine. Ordinary cold, flu and allergy medicine used to make methamphetamine – pills banned in Mexico and restricted in the United States – are still widely available in many countries…

“For the cartels, the great thing about meth is it is not bound by geography,” a senior U.S. law enforcement agent with direct knowledge of the Mexican drug syndicates who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of security concerns. “You can buy the precursor chemicals off the shelf. You can order them on the telephone.”

You don’t succeed with any distributive crime without aid from coppers and politicians who are made comfortable with a share of the spoils.

RTFA. More than the usual gory details that accompany Mexican crime you will learn about drug cartels that out-manage and out-perform the government and police – both sides of the border.

A 30-year-old woman who pleaded no contest with her boyfriend to burglarizing the home of a Sonoma Valley family killed in a car crash was sentenced…to a year in the county jail.

Amber True of Redwood City also received five years’ probation for the Nov. 30 break-in at the home of John and Susan Maloney, who died along with their children, Aiden, 8, and Grace, 5, when they were struck by a teen motorist on Highway 37 three days earlier.

Judge Arthur Wick rejected a plea from prosecutors for a six-year state prison term, saying there was no evidence True and boyfriend Michael Gutierrez, 27, knew why the house was empty before they crept in through a doggy door…

Earlier this month, Wicked handed down an eight-year prison sentence for Guitierrez, a longtime drug user with a criminal record that dates back more than half his lifetime. Gutierrez was charged with committing the burglary while on probation for another felony…

Prosecutor Mike Li argued her recent sobriety should not be a factor in determining a sentence for the crime, which he said caused a great hardship for surviving family members.

Also, he questioned how True and Gutierrez could not have seen memorial bouquets and cards scattered around the house. Li said “it was highly improbable that they did not know something was amiss.”

Throw away the key.

Authorities have arrested two Georgetown University students and another person in connection to a suspected drug lab found inside a dormitory Saturday morning.

The three males, each at least 18, face charges of possession of drug paraphernalia, said Officer Hugh Carew, a spokesman for the police department. The third individual was a campus visitor. None was identified.

Police said that shortly before 6 a.m., they received a call about a foul odor at Georgetown’s Harbin Hall.

Initially, police thought the lab was for producing meth, but later said it was used to make Dimethyltryptamine, a hallucinogenic drug commonly known as DMT.

DMT is classified as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has no accepted medical use for treatment of any kind in the United States. Federal trafficking of Schedule 1 drugs carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, said Rusty Payne, a Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman.

DMT is a hallucinogenic that can be produced synthetically, but it also comes from a variety of plants and seeds found in South America, Payne said. The substance can be sniffed, smoked or injected, giving the user a short high sometimes referred to as a “business man’s trip” because it lasts about an hour…

Harbin Hall was evacuated most of the day following the discovery of the suspected lab. Seven people, including two security officers, were evaluated by medical personnel at the scene, said fire department spokesman Pete Piringer

I realize the chemistry required couldn’t have been too complex otherwise yo-yos as dumb as these wouldn’t have been able to construct their little chemical plant. Didn’t they think someone would smell the crap they were cooking?

In living quarters as close together as a dormitory you’re lucky when you don’t get complaints over old gym socks in your closet from two floors away.

One of the city’s largest methamphetamine busts in recent history practically fell into the lap of the Santa Fe Police Department over the weekend.

Raul Rincon, a 34-year-old bus passenger from Madera, Calif., was arrested Saturday evening at a gas station off Sawmill Road near Interstate 25 and charged with drug trafficking after Officer Daniel Parsons reportedly found 2.68 pounds of methamphetamine taped around the man’s ankles.

If the drug is pure methamphetamine — police have not released information on its purity — the approximate street value could exceed $236,000.

The officer went to the gas station around 6 p.m. Saturday after the driver of an interstate bus called to have Rincon removed because he was “highly intoxicated and acting up,” disrupting other passengers, Santa Fe police Sgt. Louis Carlos said Tuesday…

Rincon was cooperative and willing to sober up and catch another bus to continue his trip, police said. Parsons suggested Rincon wait at another gas station for a bus to pick him up later in the evening. Carlos said the officer even offered the man a ride, but said he would first have to frisk him before letting him in the squad car.

Rincon agreed to be frisked, police said, and he remained cooperative until Parsons “discovered a bulge down around the man’s ankles” that was later determined to be packages of meth…

Carlos said the case was handed over to the District Attorney’s Office. Because the man is suspected of traveling across state lines with the drugs, the matter likely will become a federal case.

Duh! What?

Was he going to claim those were Epsom Salts compresses soothing his tired ankles?

A Chandler man reportedly high on meth put his young toddler son in the freezer for several minutes while he fixed himself a meal, police said.

Chance Kracke told Chandler police he was on methamphetamine when he placed his 7-month-old son in freezer drawer as he prepared a meal at his apartment in the 600 block of East Commonwealth Avenue, said Sgt. Joe Favazzo, a police spokesman.

Kracke told police he placed his son in the freezer because the “kitchen floor was too dirty” and let him out after two or three minutes because the baby began crying. The child was fine, except for a cut and lump on the boy’s forehead, possibly from the freezer door, Favazzo said…

When police spoke with Chance and Leann Kracke, they admitted to smoking meth over the past month and a half, police said…

On Aug. 18, police searched the Krache’s home and were met with a “strong odor of feces and urine” and cockroaches “in the hundreds,” according to the statement…”Overall, the apartment was filthy with trash, dismantled electronics, sharp objects and alcohol within reach of the children.”

“X-rays showed the 19-month-old ingested a screw that was expected to pass,” according to the statement. Chance Kracke admitted to having anger issues and that he squeezed his son’s stomach one time because he wouldn’t stop crying, police said.

Chance Kracke was arrested on suspicion of four counts of child abuse, two counts of possession of paraphernalia, and one count of animal cruelty for kicking the dog.

Leann Kracke was arrested on suspicion of two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of child abuse.

Throw the key away. Please! Don’t let them near children or dogs.

Port Orchard, Washington –

A 33-year-old Bremerton man showed up for a court appearance on a meth charge Tuesday carrying a bag of the drug in his pants pocket, according to documents filed in Kitsap County District Court.

Before making his court appearance, the man had to be booked into and released from the Kitsap County jail. That’s standard procedure for these sorts of crimes, officials said.

While at the jail, a guard performed a security pat-down and found a bag of meth in the man’s right front pocket. The 33-year-old was then booked into the Kitsap County jail on $10,000 bail on the new felony possession charge.

Uh – OK. You were expecting maybe Willie Sutton?