Crystal methamphetamine, often known as crystal meth, is a glassy substance that can be smoked in a pipe, snorted, or injected. It is a stimulant medicine that improves one’s disposition, makes one more active, and sharpens one’s awareness.
Depression, cravings, and anxiousness are just some of the withdrawal symptoms that may occur if you try to stop using it. The drug’s manufacture is straightforward. You won’t need any hard-to-find materials or advanced preparation techniques.
Once the manufacturing process is finished, individuals will have access to a strong and low-cost medicine. Unfortunately, the chemicals used to manufacture meth are extremely hazardous to both humans and the environment.
As laws against pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in meth prevalent in cold medicines, have tightened over the past decade, meth production has relocated from domestic labs to Mexico.
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What Goes Into Meth
Methamphetamine uses pseudoephedrine as its active component. As a decongestant, it helps open stuffy noses and sinus passageways in cold medicines. Several compounds are needed to convert pseudoephedrine into meth.
Almost none of these substances are intended for human consumption. Even though they are harmful, meth users continue to take them with every hit.
Creating Methamphetamine
How is crystal meth produced? Meth can be synthesised from other substances, or amphetamine or methamphetamine can be extracted from ephedrine or pseudoephedrine and hydrogenated to produce meth.
Many manufacturers in the 1960s and 1970s created the medication by chemical synthesis. When laws were passed banning these substances, manufacturers shifted to extracting or hydrogenating ephedrine and pseudoephedrine instead.
They synthesise ephedrine or pseudoephedrine by removing it from pharmaceutical items like cold remedies using mixes and filters.3 Meth is typically extracted and synthesised using a number of chemicals that are highly combustible and volatile.
The production process releases highly flammable and explosive gases, as well as toxic vapours that can damage anyone exposed to them. The components are extremely dangerous as well.
Meth production results in the release of up to five times as much toxic waste per pound of meth than is consumed.2 Meth production may have devastating effects on the environment, rendering fields and forests unusable until a hazmat team can come in and clean it up. The time and money required to clean a laboratory can be a significant strain on public safety budgets.
In the United States, how Much Methamphetamine is Being Manufactured?
In 2005, the United States passed the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, which, among other things, made it more difficult to obtain ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, two ingredients used in the manufacturing of meth.
The majority of the meth being sold in the United States now comes from “superlabs” in Mexico. Every day, they can produce hundreds of pounds of meth with a purity level of 95% to 99%. However, many of laboratories remain open across the United States.
The United States Border Patrol reports that since 2010, the amount of meth found in confiscated goods has risen from 8,900 pounds to nearly 82,000 pounds as of October 2018. However, because much of the meth transported into the United States never gets caught, the actual figure is likely greater.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has observed a decline in domestic meth lab events, suggesting a change in meth manufacture. There were 24,248 lab incidents in the United States before to the law’s implementation in 2006. There were 9,854 instances in 2014, fewer than before the ban was introduced.
How Difficult Is It to Acquire Sufficient Pseudoephedrine for Meth Production?
Meth labs now have a much harder time obtaining sufficient quantities of pseudoephedrine. Medicines containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine were restricted to sales behind the counter after being made illegal for sale over the counter by the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005.
Retailers like pharmacies are required to verify customer identities and maintain such information for a minimum of 2 years if they sell pseudoephedrine. Each state also has its own set of regulations for keeping tabs on the distribution of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. For instance:
- The sale of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine products to minors is prohibited by law in many states.
- Many jurisdictions mandate the creation of such a system.
- In certain states, including Oregon, these drugs are only available with a doctor’s prescription.
To What Extent have Authorities been Able to Halt Meth Production?
Law enforcement agencies in the United States are a part of a nationwide effort to educate the public on how to spot meth laboratories and report them to authorities. The Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services launched one such effort and saw considerable success from 1998 to 2002.
Labs were more easily identified because to the programme, and collaboration between lab enforcement and other local agencies was established. Meth manufacturing in the United States has decreased in recent years due to a combination of increased public knowledge and a crackdown on pseudoephedrine sales that began in 2005.
While seizures of other drugs have decreased or increased just slightly over the previous 5 years, meth has tripled. Despite this drop, production in Mexico has gone up. Seizures of meth have increased at ports of entry and highway checkpoints. While seizures of other drugs have decreased or increased just slightly over the previous 5 years, meth has tripled.
How Long Do Prison Sentences Typically Last for Meth Possession, Production, or Distribution?
The DEA strictly controls the distribution of crystal meth because it is an illicit narcotic. State per state, minimum and maximum drug punishments are set. The federal government has strict regulations on trafficking, while individual states regulate possession, sale, and production.
Even if you’re only caught with a trace amount of crystal meth, you could face a fine or even a few weeks or months in jail. However, the consequences in some states are worse. In addition to possible prison terms of several months to years, anyone convicted of felony possession or manufacture may also face hefty fines.
For instance, in the state of Washington, a person can receive up to 5 years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine for possessing any amount of a controlled narcotic.
Any quantity of controlled substance production, distribution, or sale is punishable by up to five years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. The penalties for producing 50 grammes or more of methamphetamine in Oklahoma range from 20 years to life in prison and fines of up to $50,000.
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It’s required by federal law.
- A person convicted of meth possession for the first time faces a minimum fine of $1,000 and a maximum of one year in prison. A second offence carries a mandatory $2,500 fine and a possible jail sentence of between 15 days and 2 years.
- First-time offenders caught with 5–40 years in prison and up to $5 million in fines for trafficking 5–49 grammes of pure methamphetamine or 50–499 grammes of a methamphetamine combination. Ten years to life in jail and/or a $2 million fine apply for a second offence.
- An individual faces up to 10 years in prison and a $10 million fine for trafficking 50 grammes or more of pure methamphetamine or 500 grammes or more of a methamphetamine combination. For a second offence, the penalties include up to twenty years in prison and a fine of up to twenty million dollars; for a third or subsequent offence, the penalties include life in prison and a fine of up to twenty million dollars.
