[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 78 (Tuesday, June 14, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6473-S6474]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMBATING METHAMPHETAMINE EPIDEMIC
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, it is clear that legislation is needed to
combat the methamphetamine epidemic sweeping my State and much of the
country. This drug is destroying the lives of the people abusing it,
their families and their communities. For years, the problem has been
talked about, but not enough has been done.
To draw attention to Oregon's meth crisis, my colleague Senator Smith
and I will be periodically coming to the Senate floor to talk about the
meth problem in our State.
Today, I would like to introduce a recent newspaper article from the
Oregonian. The June 1 article describes a police bust of ``a massive
methamphetamine lab capable of producing 400,000 doses of pure meth at
a time--enough to intoxicate the entire adult population of Portland.''
The bust was one of the largest in Oregon history. This is the good
news. The bad news is that this lab had been in business for at least
five months--producing and distributing thousands of doses of meth.
Despite successes like this bust, the meth epidemic is getting worse,
not better. Congress cannot wait any longer to act--we have a duty to
address this crisis now. Enough is enough. It is critical that the
Congress pass and the President sign the Combat Meth Act, on which
Senator Smith and I are original cosponsors. We must also fully fund
the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program and the Byrne Grant
program. These initiatives provide much needed reforms and much needed
funds, which will help give communities in Oregon and across the Nation
the tools they need to fight this terrible problem.
I ask unanimous consent that the full text of the Oregonian article
be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Oregonian, June 1, 2005]
Police Bust Meth Superlab
(By Steve Suo)
Oregon police and federal agents have dismantled a massive
methamphetamine lab capable of producing 400,000 doses of
pure meth at a time--enough to intoxicate the entire adult
population of Portland.
[[Page S6474]]
Officials said the ``superlab'' was discovered Thursday in
the Willamette Valley town of Brownsville. The lab was at a
mobile home on a rural, 10-acre property and was capable of
producing 90 pounds of pure methamphetamine in a 48- to 72-
hour period.
The lab had been in operation for at least five months,
according to indictments filed in federal court in Portland.
The find, which U.S. Attorney Karin J. Immergut described
as one of the largest labs in Oregon history, was extremely
unusual in a number of ways.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials say
superlabs operated by Mexican drug trafficking organizations
now produce about 65 percent of all meth sold in the United
States. But the number of superlabs seized in the United
States has been falling dramatically in recent years. There
were 53 seized last year, down from 244 in 2001, according to
the DEA. Agency officials say the reason is that Mexican
traffickers increasingly are moving their superlabs south of
the border.
In Oregon, only a handful of superlabs--defined as a lab
capable of producing at least 10 pounds a batch--are
uncovered each year, according to Sgt. Joel Lujan of the
Oregon State Police drug enforcement section.
``Most of the labs that we're finding are going to be the
tweaker labs,'' Lujan said, referring to labs run by meth
users for their own consumption. Those labs typically produce
less than an ounce of meth at a time.
A single dose of meth is one-tenth of a gram. Ninety pounds
of pure meth would make 400,000 doses; if cut to street
purity of 50 percent, it would make 800,000 doses.
Drug agents arrested 15 people in connection with the
Brownsville case, according to Immergut's office. Most were
Mexican citizens living in Salem.
Details of how the investigation unfolded remained sketchy
Tuesday. Salem Police Sgt. Pat Garrett, a member of the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration task force involved in the
case, said agents were investigating some of the suspects for
several months. Surveillance led agents to the mobile home in
Brownsville.
``We had people we believed to be involved in the
production of methamphetamine who led us to the lab site,''
Garrett said.
Stains on the walls of the mobile home suggested the lab
operators were making meth inside, but much of the lab's
equipment and chemicals were in storage outside the home.
In addition to three pounds of finished meth and $195,000
in cash, agents found 150 pounds of iodine and 20 to 30
pounds of red phosphorous. Those chemicals make it possible
to convert pseudoephedrine, a common cold remedy ingredient,
to methamphetamine.
Garrett said the lab operators had finished their latest
batch Wednesday.
``There was no more pseudoephedrine left,'' Garrett said.
``They had done their cook and finished the product and were
waiting to do the next cook.''
Five 22-liter flasks, used to create the pseudoephedrine
reaction, were found in a nearby rental truck, where they had
apparently been stored.
Experts said each 22-liter flask can produce, at most, 15
pounds of meth at a time, for a total of 75 pounds. But
Garrett said the lab operators had enough chemicals to make
90 pounds of meth if they ran the flasks simultaneously and
replenished some as the reaction unfolded.
Five of the 15 people arrested were charged with conspiracy
to manufacture meth. Sonia Violet Garcia, 20, of Brownsville,
was arraigned Friday.
Four others, all Salem residents, are scheduled to make
initial court appearances today: Arturo Arevalo-Cuevas, 22;
Miguel Silva Chava, 26; Venancio Villalobos-Soto, 40; and
Adriana Arevalo-Cuevas, 29.
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