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Campaign Updates>
PENRY CALLS ON FEDS FOR METH SHUTDOWN
February 20, 2006
PENRY CALLS ON FEDS TO SHUTDOWN 'MEXICAN METH SUPERHIGHWAY'
Grand Junction, CO — State Representative Josh Penry will
introduce a resolution in the Colorado House of
Representatives this week calling on the President of the
United States and the Secretary of State to engage their
counterparts in the Mexican government in order to develop
a plan to slow the massive inflow of Methamphetamine into
the United States from Mexico.
The resolution calls on the White House and Congress to use
all reasonable means to pressure the Mexican government
into partnering in an effort to stem the illegal flow of
Meth.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency estimates that
80% of the methamphetamine comes from Mexican drug cartels,
who are acquiring the chemicals to produce Meth by
diverting surplus imports from Asia and Europe.
A recent analysis by the Mesa County Meth Task Force, a
broad-based partnership formed to stem the exploding impact
of Meth-use on the Western Slope community, showed that
approximately 90% of the Meth in Mesa County is
trafficked from Mexico.
Said Penry, "The numbers are startling and they don't lie:
even if Colorado successfully shuts down every homegrown
Meth lab, we will have made only an infinitesimally small
dent in the availability of this destructive drug. If
the United States is going to make any headway against
Meth, we've got to shut-down the Mexican Meth superhighway.
And for that to happen, we need the highest levels of our
federal government to bring their collective
weight to bear on our friends to the South."
Alarmingly, there has been a steady increase in
pseudoephedrine imports to Mexico in recent years.
Pseudoephedrine is the precursor drug used to make
methamphetamine. In 1999, Mexico imported 51 tons,
increasing the next year to 66 tons, and most recently, in
2004, customs records show Mexico imported 224 tons of
pseudoephedrine. It is estimated Mexico's legitimate demand
for pseudoephedrine is about 100 tons per year. Penry’s
resolution calls on top-ranking federal officials to
pressure the Mexican government, and foreign governments
that are home to the original production of
pseudoephedrine, to drastically reduce pseudoephedrine
shipments to Mexico.
The porous U.S-Mexican border makes the shipment of Meth
into American cities all too easy, Penry said. He said
securing the border is a central component of the Meth
solution as well, which Penry's resolution also calls
for.
Concluded Penry, “Methamphetamine is devastating our
country one community at a time. It is a national security
issue of the first order that deserves the full engagement
of the White House, the Congress and all levels of our
government."
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