DeSantis signs a bill that raises penalties for fentanyl trafficking and other drug charges Health News Florida

Crystalmethamphetamine typically is administered by smoking using a glass pipe,although some abusers inject the drug. Not only is meth addiction personally destructive, but it also contributes to rates of violent crime, theft, homelessness, and consumes a great deal of law enforcement resources and local funding. “Transnational drug trafficking organizations have improved manufacturing methods to drive down purity-adjusted prices through increased specialization via industrial-scale manufacturing. The new law also will increase penalties for selling controlled substances within 1,000 feet of substance-abuse treatment centers, as well as hospitals and health-care facilities that provide substance-abuse treatment. “I’m so very proud of our detectives and the agents and law enforcement officers who partnered with us to get these meth capital of florida dangerous drugs and felons off the street.

DeSantis signs a bill that raises penalties for fentanyl trafficking and other drug charges

However, the harsh chemicals used to producemethamphetamine damage the nasal passages, forcing abusers to resort to smokingor injecting the drug. State and local law enforcement officials in Florida report that mostindividuals arrested for possession of methamphetamine also possess other drugs,including illegally obtained pharmaceuticals, at the time of their arrest. Methamphetamine is frequently abused in rural areas in Florida,and is increasingly abused in suburban and metropolitan areas. Federal, state,and local law enforcement officials and treatment providers in Florida reportthat in central Florida, an area that historically has had a significantmethamphetamine problem, the availability and abuse of the drug have spreadoutward from Polk County. In some rural areas methamphetamine is being marketedas an alternative to crack. These officials and treatment providers also reportthat the level of abuse in northern Florida, the Florida panhandle, and in someareas of southern Florida such as Miami Beach, Key West, and Fort Lauderdale hasincreased.

The Administration’s Efforts to Prevent the Production and Use of Methamphetamine

Also known as the Nazi method, this method typically yields ounce quantities of high quality d-methamphetamine and often is used by independent dealers and producers. The director of the Polk County Health Department reported asignificant increase in the number of hepatitis A cases in that county. As ofDecember 31, 2002, 227 residents had been diagnosed with hepatitis A, comparedwith 15 cases in 2000 and 164 in 2001. Health Department officials attribute thespread of hepatitis A to methamphetamine abusers with poor hygiene.Methamphetamine abusers reportedly have infected other members of theirhouseholds through poor food handling practices. Missouri claims the title of America’s meth production capital as of 2019, hosting 27.6 meth labs per 100,000 residents.2 The availability of methamphetamine has increased since 2012, resulting in a decline in street value. Although the nation’s attention continues to be on opioids, methamphetamine is still a large threat in states all over the country.

The law could result in methamphetamine dealers facing a death sentence if drugs they distribute kills someone.

But May’s figures are lower than the nearly 21,700 pounds seized in October, when Donald Trump was president. There’s no precise number for the total amount of foreign meth that comes into the United States — it’s difficult for anyone to quantify how much of it goes undetected and evades seizure by border officials. So it’s hard to say whether that amount has increased over the last six months and at what pace. Citing public safety concerns, Florida law enforcement officials posted 48-hour trespassing signs to vacate the island before crews could come in and begin taking the structures down. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups, the dominant transporters ofmethamphetamine, usually smuggle the drug in commercial and private vehiclesfrom Mexico, California, and southwestern states into Florida.

The number of domestic lab incidents is increasing at a significant rate in the United States, with the largest increases in the South and Midwest. In March 2009, there were 966 meth lab incidents nationwide, compared to 756 incidents in March 2008 and 596 incidents in March 2007. The percentage of drug-related federal sentences in Floridainvolving methamphetamine was significantly lower than the national percentageeach year from FY1997 through FY2001. According to USSC data, 5.5 percent ofdrug-related federal sentences in Florida in FY2001 weremethamphetamine-related, compared with 14.2 percent nationwide.

The required hydriodic acid in this variation of the hydriodic acid/red phosphorus method is produced by the reaction of iodine in water with red phosphorus. Another iodine/red phosphorus method, limited to small production batches, is called the cold cook method because the chemicals, instead of being heated, are placed in a hot environment such as the sun. Long-term methamphetamine addicts often display psychoticbehavior such as paranoia and experience auditory and visual hallucinations ormood disturbances and have violent tendencies. As the drug’s euphoric effectsbegin to diminish, the user enters a stage called tweaking. Officers are advised to stay 7 to 10 feet away from theabuser because moving closer could be perceived as threatening.

1. Meth seizure at the southwest border is increasing, Tree said, but “this is a very long-term trend.”
2. Additionally, psychotic symptoms such as paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions can occur.
3. Potency and purity of the methamphetamine seized in the United States averages more than 97 percent, an uptick from the already high-quality product of five years ago, which was closer to 90 percent potency and 96 percent purity.
4. The DEA office in Greensboro reported having a 2,000% increase in meth seizures since the fiscal year 2017.
5. There is a substantial flow of drugs entering the country from Mexico as U.S.

In the CMEA, law enforcement officials were authorized to have access to these logs, and retail outlets were allowed to sell only 3.6 grams of PSE a day per individual purchaser. There appears to be a correlation between the passage of the CMEA and a decrease in meth use in the United States. However, methamphetamine producers have found ways to circumvent the CMEA, and there has been an increase in the number of methamphetamine lab incidents. The Obama Administration is working to improve intervention and treatment services, particularly by enhancing services delivered by primary healthcare providers. Administration officials are also working with the criminal justice system to reduce methamphetamine-related crime and improve public health and safety.