Report Finds Meth Epidemic in Full Force in San Diego County

Contact: Kelly Thornton, 619-546-9726

NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – November 30, 2015

SAN DIEGO – Methamphetamine continues to be a wrecking ball in San Diego County, as Mexican Super Labs flood the market with the purest and cheapest product ever seen here, creating a perfect storm of health and public-safety consequences.

The latest Methamphetamine Strike Force Report Card, which tracks nine indicators of the meth problem in San Diego County annually, found that the meth epidemic is in full force here, as numbers of meth-related deaths, emergency room visits, arrests and border seizures remain at alarming levels.

According to the report, emergency-room visits throughout San Diego County have increased by thousands of patients – up 141 percent since 2010. Seizures of methamphetamine at the San Diego-Tijuana border have marked a dramatic 129 percent increase from 2010 to 2014. Forty-five percent of adults arrested in 2014 had meth in their systems, compared to 27 percent in 2010.

Adding to law enforcement angst is voter-approved Prop. 47, which last year made meth use and possession a misdemeanor. These offenses used to be felonies, and the courts could require drug treatment for many offenders. That has completely changed. Today, someone can get arrested, released and re-arrested many times for what are considered non-violent meth offenses.

Twenty-five years ago meth was cooked up in the U.S., in small-scale labs in motorhomes, trailers or apartments, and it was maybe 50 percent pure. Today’s meth is being manufactured in huge quantities in Mexican Super Labs supplied by Asian chemical distributors and staffed by university educated chemists and engineers.

The result: U.S. Markets are being flooded with the highest quality and lowest priced meth to date. What was once 50 percent pure is now 95 percent pure. What was $1,800 a kilogram in 2010 is now as low as $400.

“The trend lines are deeply troubling and show that we must continue to wage war against a drug that is tearing families apart,” said county Supervisor Dianne Jacob. “Make no mistake:  meth is death, meth breaks lives, and we need to continue to do all we can to stem the tide of this terrible drug into our communities.”

“Meth is a quadruple threat – it’s extremely pure, inexpensive, highly addictive and widely available,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “We are tackling this monster problem by intensifying efforts to dismantle the cartels, and by offering prevention and education programs targeting young people and medical professionals.”

“This is a perfect storm for meth addicts and those just encountering the drug for the first time,” said Sheriff Bill Gore. “We can't incarcerate our way out of this problem – it will require education at all levels as to the severe consequences of this drug. This is the essence of public safety – to educate and inform.”

Dr. Danielle Douglass, an emergency physician at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, said that long term use of meth is related to many cardiovascular problems, including cardiomyopathy. “Meth use results in both chronic and acute heart disease,” Douglass said. “A good percentage of these meth-related deaths are people who die of natural disease, where their meth use contributed to an early death. Half of all meth-detected deaths are persons aged 40 to 60 years old.”

Some other trends:

--Meth use and crime are linked. Last year 45 percent of adults arrested and taken to county jails tested positive for methamphetamine. That number comes from both jail surveys and confirmed drug tests. This is a 66 percent increase over five years ago.

-Between fiscal years 2009 and 2014, Customs and Border Protection reported a 300 percent increase in the amount of meth seized at all of California’s ports of entry.

- While this year’s Methamphetamine Strike Force Report Card found meth-related deaths showed a slight 2-percent decrease from 2013 to 2014 –from 267 to 262 – the 2014 death toll is still two-thirds higher than five years ago.

-Meth, in its ever increasing role as “grim-reaper” doesn’t discriminate. In 2014, the youngest methamphetamine-related death reported by San Diego’s Medical Examiner was a 17-year-old female who committed suicide, and the oldest was a 70-year-old woman who died of heart disease with methamphetamine toxicity. This woman was not an anomaly. We have a “Silver Tsunami” of aging meth users whose bodies are less and less able to handle this powerful drug.

-Innovative traffickers will try anything and everything to smuggle their drugs across the border by land, sea or air – in Super Tunnels, on jet skis, superlight aircraft and even drones. They are using youth as mules to walk across the borders.

-Seven to 10 percent of methamphetamine now being smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico is in liquid form, meaning finished methamphetamine that has been dissolved or suspended in a liquid solvent. Once in the United States – the meth is taken to labs at which the liquid meth is converted into crystal meth.  This process requires chemicals that are highly flammable and explosive - which presents a whole host of other issues for the communities, generally in the Central Valley, in which such labs are located.

Nick Macchione, director of the county’s Health and Human Services Agency and a chair of the Meth Strike Force, emphasized that treatment works, and is available. The County contracts with residential and outpatient programs in every region in San Diego County. A 2002 California Administrative Office study estimated that every dollar spent on drug treatment avoids seven dollars in criminal justice expenses. 

Residents who need treatment referrals or who want to report anonymously suspicious meth-related crime are encouraged to call the Meth Hotline at 1-877-NO-2-METH or to give anonymous reports to www.no2meth.org