On June 15, Customs inspectors on the U.S.-Canadian border seized more than 21 million tablets - 5 tons - of pseudoephedrine, a common over-the-counter cold medication that, in this case, was being smuggled into the U.S. for use as a component in the production of methamphetamine. The tablets were valued at about $21 million. The seizure was the largest to date, but authorities, who've been watching the numbers rise, weren't surprised.

Methamphetamine is sold in pill or powder form and can be swallowed, inhaled, or injected.

On April 11, 2001, inspectors in Detroit found about 42 million pseudoephedrine tablets concealed in a commercial truck entering the U.S. from Canada. Since October 1 of the same year, Customs officers in Michigan have made nine pseudoephedrine seizures totaling more than 36.8 million tablets. During calendar year 2001, Customs officers seized more than 111 million pseudoephedrine tablets on the northern border. Numbers like these tell a frightening story: imports of pseudoephredrine into Canada - mostly from China, India, and Germany - have increased by nearly 1,500 percent since the mid-1990s, and most of this component drug is bound for the United States.

Mexican producers compete for market share
On the southwest border, the number of seizures are growing as well, but in most cases, the confiscated shipments are the real thing - meth, not just component chemicals or drugs. Some analysts have called the surge in methamphetamine smuggling from Mexico a byproduct of globalization, the result of shrewd suppliers south of the border seeing an opportunity to compete with U.S. producers for market share, and the facts seem to support this view.

In 1995, drug kingpins in Mexico realized meth might be a better bet than cocaine, a drug that forced the cartels to depend on overseas suppliers. Meth could be- home-grown - at minimum cost, and the traffickers knew the discipline and experience they had gained in the cocaine trade would quickly put them out in front of independent producers, a lot of them addicts themselves, working in makeshift meth labs inside the U.S.

The Mexican cartels shifted meth production south of the border, where wholesale chemical components were cheap, and used existing and extensive drug trafficking networks to distribute and control the final product. The results were phenomenal - soaring sales and legions of repeat customers.

Cartels target new markets
Before 1998, most of the meth entering the country came in near Tijuana and Mexicali, on the far western border between the U.S. and Mexico. In the last four years, however, the gateway for illegal meth has shifted: seizures on the 315 mile-border between Arizona and Mexico have reached record levels, and according to Customs inspectors working within that perimeter, there's no end in sight.

Today, special agents in Phoenix, Ariz., report that methamphetamine remains the "drug of choice," the number one street trafficking drug problem. Federal law enforcement officials outside the state are worried as well, calling methamphetamine the - most dangerous drug on the street today."

In Arizona, inspectors and agents are writing the book on meth seizures, developing tactical responses that law enforcement agencies across the country are using as models. According to Charles Allaire, Resident-Agent-in-Charge, Phoenix, Ariz., "More than 274 pounds of meth have been seized since last October, a significant increase over the amount seized during FY 2000 - 172 pounds. When you look at the seizure rates for 1999 - 70 pounds, and for 1998 - a paltry 18 pounds of meth, you begin to understand that a growing supply of meth in the state of Arizona is creating a new marketplace of addicts, and that the demand for this drug is exploding."

The price is right
From its entry point on the Arizona-Mexico border, the drug enters a distribution channel that has spread rapidly across the entire state, into communities, neighborhoods and schools. An ounce of methamphetamine, report Customs officials, now sells for around $700 on the streets of Phoenix "that translates into $150 -$120 for a 1/4 gram unit to $100-$120 for 1/8 ounce. The price seems to be right for a growing number of adolescent users who, in many cases, mistakenly believe meth is a -safe alternative to cocaine."

Methamphetamine supporters don't understand that "speed still kills." Toxic ingredients like battery acid and drain cleaner are often used to produce the drug, and users frequently use contaminated needles to inject themselves, risking exposure to hepatitis and HIV.

Meth versus cocaine
Meth also leads to "amphetamine psychosis," a condition very similar to paranoid schizophrenia. Heavy users often exhibit sudden, violent, or irrational actions, an over-the-top response to a drug many young people believe has no serious or long-term effects. What they don't know is that meth, like all amphetamines, is one of the very few drugs that exposed lab animals will work to get and continue to take until it kills them. A college student who starts the school year using 5 grams of meth for the "buzz" he or she believes is needed to ace freshman composition may be doing 1000 grams a year later - that's how fast an addict's tolerance level grows.

Meth is popular off-campus too, with people authorities say can't get cocaine, or who've burned out on the drug and "need the stronger, longer lasting and cheaper high meth can provide." The problem is that meth addicts can burn out faster than cocaine users, becoming even more paranoid and more dysfunctional in a shorter period of time.

Customs fights back
The good news is that inspectors and special agents in Arizona and along the southwest border are demonstrating they're up to the challenge - seizing unprecedented loads of the drug and chalking up an increasing number of arrests. Recently, special agents in Nogales confiscated 42 pounds of methamphetamine (with an estimated street value of $672,000) in a single seizure - almost a quarter of the amount seized in the last six months.

There may not be a solution at hand yet, a ready antidote to a growing problem, but Customs is pushing back hard, and with a 1,400 percent rise in meth seizures this fiscal year, inspectors and agents are making cartels hurt where it counts the most.

METHAMPHETAMINE Common name: Amphetamines Forms: Pills, powder, crystals Scientific name: Varies with type Common slang terms: Speed, Meth, Uppers, Whiz, Crank Effects: Loss of appetite, increased breathing and pulse rates, high blood pressure, dilated pupils, flushing or pallor, fever, sweating, headache, blurred vision, dizziness, tremors, loss of coordination, burst blood vessels in the brain, heart failure, stroke, and death