Sep 17, 2011

Drug War: UNODC: Meth Production Moving Out of Mexico?

InSight Crime: "Mexico's crackdown on methaphetamine is pushing the industry into other Central and South American countries, according to a new report by the United Nations. Could Mexico lose its place as the region's top meth producer?

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) are now the second-most widely consumed drug in the world, after marijuana. The biggest producer of ATS in Latin America is Mexico, the supplier of up to 80 percent of the U.S.'s methaphetamine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Among the substances identified by the UNODC, methaphetamine is the most highly addictive and is by far the greatest risk to public health and security. It is also the substance that drug traffickers will mostly likely begin producing in other vulnerable countries across the region, if crackdowns against the drug continue in North America, according to a recent UNODC report (pdf)."

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