[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12375]
[From the U.S. 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.
       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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