In 1996, the county launched a multi-jurisdictional agency called the Methamphetamine Strike Force . It’s made up of several important county agencies, a roster of hefty federal and state agencies, and some community groups. And it puts out a report card every year.
Let’s start with death. The number of meth-related deaths in San Diego County has not changed much in the last 10 years, except for 2005, which was a particularly bad year for some reason.
And who dies? Well, tweakers between the ages of 40 and 49 should be very careful, especially men. Even more especially if they are white men, although other ethnic groups have climbed on to the death charts.
What do they die from? It’s a sad list. They overdose or mix drugs, they commit suicide, kill each other, light themselves on fire or drown themselves, and they have fatal car accidents on the same roads where you and I drive. In short, meth users are as dangerous to themselves and to us as they have always been.
And they come from all walks of life: Last year 16 San Diego County construction workers died with meth in their systems, also 6 homemakers, 4 plumbers, 1 legal assistant, a minister, dentist, accountant and hairdresser. You get the picture.
What about arrests? Any progress there? From 2003 to 2005, arrests for possession or sales rose fairly dramatically. But in 2006, they dropped 18 percent.
This would be good news if fewer people were using and selling crystal meth. But a more likely explanation is priorities. Local law enforcement no longer has the resources to go after users and dealers.
1999 and 2000 were the big years for lab busts and clean-ups. After that they fell way off. In 2006, just 10 labs were seized, most of them small, most of them in rural North County. This sounds alarming, but it may be good news -- of a sort.
Starting in the mid 1940s, San Diego County was ground zero for meth production and became the meth capital of the U.S. But now, like so many American products, it’s been outsourced to Mexico. In 2001, agents seized 490 kilos of meth at the Tijuana border. Seizures in 2006 were nearly triple that amount.
Border agents also reported seizures of meth ingredients, including enough cold tablets to keep the entire county sniffle-free. Why this shift across the border?
The San Diego County District Attorney’s office credits the California law restricting the number of cold tablets we can buy over the counter. Cold tablets contain pseudo ephedrine, one of the many ingredients necessary to cook methamphetamine. No pseudo ephedrine, no meth.
With meth production shifting south, it’s Baja California’s turn to experience all the associated problems: addiction, crime, mayhem, pollution, death. So now the Mexican government is considering legislation to restrict the purchase of over-the-counter cold medicine.
The numbers seem to say that San Diego’s Methamphetamine Strike Force is running on fumes. It may need a boost of funding, energy or leadership to be worthy of its name. Until then, we’ll have to mark the report card incomplete.
