Overview

Significantly decreased domestic methamphetamine production in both small- and large-scale laboratories--a result of increased law enforcement pressure, public awareness campaigns, and regulation on the sale and use of precursor and essential chemicals used in methamphetamine production, particularly pseudoephedrine--has decreased wholesale supplies of domestically produced methamphetamine. However, methamphetamine production in Mexico has increased to levels sufficient to offset domestic production decreases, to maintain distribution of the drug in established markets, and to facilitate further eastward expansion of the drug. Decreases in domestic production have resulted in a significant increase in the control that Mexican DTOs and criminal groups exert over domestic methamphetamine markets because individual users who previously relied on supplies produced in small-scale domestic laboratories are increasingly forced to purchase the drug from Mexican methamphetamine distributors.