Fiction: Secret Production of Illegal Drugs Can’t Be Stopped

Fact: The government is making significant progress in stopping illegal drug production.

Secret drug production depends on the availability of chemicals needed to make the drugs. Most illegal drugs, except marijuana, require chemicals to be produced. Although most of these chemicals have other, legitimate uses, they can also be used as “precursor chemicals” to make illegal drugs. These chemicals are regulated under the Controlled Substances Act.

Disrupting the Methamphetamine Supply

Some of the chemicals needed to make methamphetamine are found in ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine is a common ingredient in over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines. Laws such as the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 restrict the sale of medicine with pseudoephedrine. This includes placing these medicines behind the counter and limiting the amount of pseudoephedrine you can purchase in one day¹.

In 2007, the drugstore CVS started an electronic logbook system to record individual pseudoephedrine sales. But the system did not prevent multiple purchases by a customer on the same day. The government learned that violations occurred in 25 states where CVS failed to implement proper safeguards. In 2010, CVS admitted that it unlawfully sold pseudoephedrine to criminals who made methamphetamine. As part of the settlement, CVS agreed to pay $77.6 million in civil penalties.

In a statement, Michele M. Leonhart, who was Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration at the time, said “this historic settlement underscores DEA’s commitment to protect the public’s health and safety against the scourge of methamphetamine…CVS’s flagrant violation of the law resulted in the company becoming a direct link in the methamphetamine supply chain. DEA will continue to work with its state and local counterparts to disrupt the supply of methamphetamine, including inhibiting access to chemicals, such as pseudoephedrine, used to produce methamphetamine.²”

For more than a decade, DEA has specifically investigated the illegal diversion and import of pseudoephedrine. Through such operations as Northern Star³ and Mountain Express I, II, III⁴, DEA has seized more than 74,000 pounds of pseudoephedrine. That translates to hundreds of millions of tablets that could produce tens of thousands of pounds of methamphetamine.

Investigating Marijuana Grow Houses

In 2011, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at a house in Smallwood, New York, where they believed the tenants were operating a marijuana grow house. They recovered about 150 marijuana plants and lights, a humidifier, pots, soil, and other materials used in marijuana grow houses.

"These alleged drug producers and distributors might have seemed ingenious, operating a 'grow house' with some 150 marijuana plants in an obscure, rural area,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. "Fortunately, federal law enforcement officers and their local counterparts were smarter. I commend the cooperative efforts that shut down this operation and brought its alleged perpetrators to justice."

DEA Special Agent in Charge John P. Gilbride said, "From locations in the inner city to locations in rural areas, marijuana distributors are capitalizing on illegal production and sales for one reason and one reason only—to make a profit. There is no forethought of the dangers of drug abuse or the dangers of operating a marijuana grow operation—like fire risks and pollution—in a residential environment, but it is law enforcement's commitment to keeping our neighborhoods safe that led us to identify and arrest those responsible for this illegal operation⁵."

Source Information

¹Good Medicine, Bad Behavior: Drug Diversion in America, Exhibit Catalog with Parent’s and Teacher’s Guide, DEA Museum & Visitors Center http://www.goodmedicinebadbehavior.org/download/GMBB_CTM_Final_web.pdf

²Press Release No. 10-148, United States Attorney's Office, Central District of California, U.S. Justice Department, October 14, 2010 http://www.justice.gov/usao/cac/pressroom/pr2010/148.html

³News Release, “Over 65 Arrested in International Methamphetamine Investigation,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, April 15, 2003 http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr041503.html

⁴Transcript of News Release, “More Than 100 Arrested in Nationwide Methamphetamine Investigation,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, January 10, 2002 http://www.justice.gov/dea/major/me3.html

⁵News Release, “Two Men Charged in White Plains Federal Court with Operating a Marijuana Grow House,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, March 3, 2011, http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2011/nyc030311.html