Availability

Methamphetamine availability is generally stable, with slight increases in eastern drug markets. National-level purity data reveal an overall rise in methamphetamine purity, indicating increased availability of the drug, although some of the increase most likely reflects an increased prevalence of more refined ice methamphetamine (typically much higher purity than powder methamphetamine) that is increasingly being produced by Mexican criminal groups for distribution in domestic markets. Seizure and arrest data are not as definitive as purity data. Methamphetamine-related arrests and seizures have recently decreased. This decrease, however, does not signify a decrease in availability, but a decrease in the level of domestic methamphetamine production. According to law enforcement officials, in previous years many methamphetamine-related arrests and seizures were the result of methamphetamine production investigations and laboratory seizures.

While national-level data on methamphetamine availability is arguably inconclusive, anecdotal law enforcement reporting is unmistakable and indicates relatively stable availability in long-established markets (particularly in the Pacific, Southwest, and West Central Regions) and increasing availability in the Great Lakes, Northeast, and Southeast Regions. The anecdotal reporting is supported by NDTS data that show that the percentage of state and local law enforcement agencies reporting high or moderate availability of methamphetamine is substantial (approximately 65%) and has been stable nationally from 2003 through 2005 but has increased in the Great Lakes, Northeast, and Southeast Regions.

Methamphetamine availability will most likely increase in the near term, particularly in eastern states. Significant decreases in wholesale production in domestic laboratories have not reduced domestic availability of the drug; these reductions have been offset by methamphetamine produced by Mexican DTOs at laboratories in Mexico and transported to domestic markets via the U.S.-Mexico border. Moreover, intelligence reports indicate that Mexican DTOs most likely will be able to offset any further declines in domestic methamphetamine production by increasing production levels at laboratories in Mexico, which have not yet reached full capacity.