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 News from Around the Americas | September 2007 
Napolitano, Mexico to Tackle Meth Problem
 Howard Fischer - Capitol Media Services
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 |  | Now that Mexico has limited the amount of ephedrine that can be imported into Mexico, more ephedrine is being imported into the United States and then taken south across the border, manufactured into methamphetamine and then (brought) back into the United States.
- Janet Napolitano |  | |
A meeting this week of governors from both sides of the international border may provide some new methods of fighting the methamphetamine problem.
Gov. Janet Napolitano said new laws in Mexico have altered drug trafficking. Now, she said, the governors have to figure out how to deal with that.
What has led to the change, Napolitano said, was a decision by Mexico to limit the amount of pseudoephedrine that can be imported into the country.
The decongestant is the primary “precursor chemical” in the making of methamphetamine. The White House had estimated more than 200 tons of pseudoephedrine were being imported each year before the restrictions, twice as much as could reasonably be used by the population.
“Now that Mexico has limited the amount of ephedrine that can be imported into Mexico, more ephedrine is being imported into the United States and then taken south across the border, manufactured into methamphetamine and then (brought) back into the United States,” Napolitano told Capitol Media Services. “The trafficking pattern has changed.”
The governor said she hopes the meetings this week in Puerto Peñasco — popularly known as Rocky Point — will enable governors from seven Mexican and four U.S. states to work out new procedures to cut down on cross-border traffic.
She acknowledged most border issues are solely the province of the respective countries’ federal governments. But Napolitano said that states can — and have — adopted their own laws dealing with meth and the precursor chemicals.
Issues to be discussed such as immigration, Napolitano acknowledged, are more exclusively the province of federal governments. She said the views of the governor will get the necessary attention from higher officials. |
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