Expansion of the Methamphetamine Trade

Global problem that now includes remote areas all over the world. Drug cartels are outsourcing the manufacturing of methamphetamine into other countries such as countries in Asia, Africa, and war torn areas of the Middle East. The Mexican drug cartels are operating in foreign markets such as Malaysia. The three Mexican national brothers are currently on trial for working in a factory that was mass producing methamphetamine. A total of 15 million dollars in methamphetamine was seized during the arrest. The penalty for drug trafficking in Malaysia is death by hanging (Sin, Lai, April 27, 2011, Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). When you view each of the cases individually they may appear to be isolated events that have no relevance or connection with one another, however when you look at them collectively, the incidents are clearly interrelated. Methamphetamine is being produced in very large quantities, the drug cartels are expanding production to other countries. Precursor drugs are being shipped to these other countries for the manufacturing of these drugs. At the street level we see the effects of the meth problem in property crimes, identity theft and assorted violent acts carried out by meth users and violent acts performed by gangs. In the course text I thought it was an interesting fact when it stated that 5.3 million Americans admitted to using cocaine while surprisingly only 850,000 Americans admitted to using methamphetamine in 2010 (Inaba, 2011).I would have thought that the methamphetamine use was much higher. Resource: Inaba, D., Cohen, W. (2011) Uppers, Downers, All Arounders. Physical and Mental Effects of Psychoactive Drugs. Seventh Edition. CNS Productions, Inc. Medford, OR.