When the Mexican Army raided a ranch in Tlajomulco earlier this month they made an unprecedented discovery. A makeshift laboratory, the ranch was filled with vat after vat brimming with white and yellow crystalline powder.
The sheer scale of the operation was staggering. This record haul of 15 tons of pure methamphetamine was equivalent to half the total of crystal meth seized worldwide in 2009. No isolated incident, this was the latest evidence of Guadalajara’s status as a “chemical city” at the heart of Mexico’s synthetic drug trade.
“Jalisco is a major hub of methamphetamine production in Mexico,” reads a revealing report leaked from the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara. The document sheds light on the machinations of the local drug industry and affirms that “ending Guadalajara’s status as Mexico’s drug chemical capital will require a sustained long-term effort.”
What is crystal meth?
In comparison to cocaine or marijuana, most people know relatively little about methamphetamine. But with Mexican cartels branching out into synthetic drug production, it has become one of the most lucrative local exports.
In the United States, methamphetamine has long been considered something of a “redneck drug,” brewed in rural areas of the South. In recent popular culture it is perhaps best known from the TV series “Breaking Bad,” which details the exploits of a former-chemistry professor who turns his hand at illicit methamphetamine production.
More commonly known as “crystal meth,” “ice” or simply “meth,” methamphetamine is a highly addictive pyschoactive stimulant that can be injected, smoked or snorted. It increases alertness, energy and concentration, and in high doses can induce euphoria, enhance self-esteem and increase libido.
Produced mainly in Mexico and California, it is a synthetic drug “cooked up” in laboratories. The principal ingredient is pseudoephedrine, a pharmaceutical drug available over-the-counter in many countries. In November 2007, the sale of pseudoephedrine was banned in Mexico, due to its use as a precursor in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine.
Outlaw motorcycle gangs used to control production and trafficking in southwestern states such as California, Arizona, Utah, and Texas, but in recent years Mexican drug cartels have taken over the industry. According to a DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) report from 2007, “approximately 80 percent of the methamphetamine used in the United States originates from larger laboratories operated by Mexican-based syndicates on both sides of the border.”
Why the sudden boom?
There are several factors behind the shift toward producing synthetic drugs in Mexico. Above all, from the cartels’ perspective, it is a more efficient and potentially more lucrative business than trafficking other drugs.
Specialists from Colombia’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DNE) say that while it requires 300 kilos of precursors to produce one kilo of cocaine, the same quantity of chemical precursors will produce 60 kilos of synthetic drugs worth millions of dollars. A kilo of methamphetamine can sell for 20,000 to 35,000 dollars in the United States and some labs can produce up to 30 kilos a day.
Another major factor is that methamphetamine can be easily produced in large quantities here in Mexico, a fact that sets it apart from heroin or cocaine. While gangs in Mexican can grow opium poppies to make impure “black-tar” heroin, they cannot compete with producers in Afghanistan, who control 90 percent of the world’s pure “white” heroin market.
Cocaine, meanwhile, is derived from the coca plant, which only grows in large quantities in South America’s Andean region. Homegrown methamphetamine production cuts out the costs of negotiating with the Colombian cartels that control the production of cocaine, as well as the risks of smuggling it through South and Central America.
By branching out into methamphetamine, Mexican cartels can control an independent and profitable market by acting as producers, rather than trafficking intermediaries.
The Guadalajara factor
What is it that makes Guadalajara in particular such a perfect location for methamphetamine production?
Last year, WikiLeaks published a confidential diplomatic cable sent in December 2008 from the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara to the Secretary of State in Washington, entitled “Chemical city: Guadalajara, Jalisco and the meth trade.” It notes that methamphetamine “production is especially high in and around the city of Guadalajara due to the confluence of geography, availability of materials, adequate infrastructure, and scientific expertise.”
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