Most of the methamphetamine flooding into Maine and New England is coming from Mexico, where drug cartels are making huge batches of the highly addictive drug and then smuggling it north.More Mainers are using this meth and getting high – it's also leading to more overdose deaths.While the number of overall drug deaths in Maine is trending lower, the number of people dying from meth is increasing. The total number of meth-related deaths was 26 in 2018. There have already been 8 in the first 3 months of 2019, the latest round of data available from the Maine Attorney General's Office.Federal drug enforcement agents and local officials recently took a trip to Sinaloa, Mexico, to see the immense drug operation firsthand."I've never seen anything like it," Jon DeLena, associate special agent in charge for the New England section of the DEA, said. "We're talking about a laboratory in the middle of the jungle that was producing 7 tons of crystal methamphetamine every 3 days."The majority of that crystal meth would then travel through the southern border and up to the coast to New England, DeLena said, using established drug routes.WMTW News 8 previously reported on these source cities in a special series, "Maine's Supply Chain." Heroin and fentanyl are smuggled from Mexico into the United States and then travel up the Interstate 95 corridor. The drugs are then divided in major U.S. cities like Chicago and New York, before heading to source cities.For Maine, much of the fentanyl and meth that is killing Mainers is first stopping in Lawrence, Massachusetts, DeLena said.DeLena was on the trip that took officials into the Mexican jungle – seeing where these drugs are being made."There was a strong chemical odor," DeLena said. "One of the things I remembered most was that, as they were explaining to us -- they did a trench and all of the overflow chemicals just get dumped."Photos and videos from the lab show giant barrels of chemicals, generators and other equipment surrounded by trees and under a canopy."Meth is really starting to alarm everybody because of the spikes we are starting to see," DeLena said. "We know that our market is really starting to get flooded with it."That flood is part of an organized plan, DeLena said, where cartels have pinpointed Maine as a drug market.Once manufactured, crystal meth almost looks like shards of glass. The stimulant is then crushed into a powder or pill. It is smoked, snorted or injected.An overdose can cause convulsions, heart attack, stroke and death, according to the DEA."When you see the opponent that we're up against -- when you see the sophistication that they can put together somewhere in the middle of the jungle and produce such volume, it's challenging," DeLena said. "But that's what it's all about for us -- that's why we're doing this."DeLena said the trip shows how the fight against Maine's opioid epidemic isn't just a local or regional battle – but an international one. Federal indictments regarding the drug trade show much of the illicit drugs flowing into Maine begin their journeys in Mexico.The meth being made in these Mexican labs is much purer than the drugs being busted in small meth labs across Maine, leading to more overdoses, DeLena said.Maine police have expressed their concern about the rise of small meth labs and mobile meth labs being found across the state.Maine drug agents made 63 arrests in 2018 for the sale or manufacture of methamphetamine.
PORTLAND, Maine — Most of the methamphetamine flooding into Maine and New England is coming from Mexico, where drug cartels are making huge batches of the highly addictive drug and then smuggling it north.
More Mainers are using this meth and getting high – it's also leading to more overdose deaths.
While the number of overall drug deaths in Maine is trending lower, the number of people dying from meth is increasing. The total number of meth-related deaths was 26 in 2018. There have already been 8 in the first 3 months of 2019, the latest round of data available from the Maine Attorney General's Office.
Federal drug enforcement agents and local officials recently took a trip to Sinaloa, Mexico, to see the immense drug operation firsthand.
"I've never seen anything like it," Jon DeLena, associate special agent in charge for the New England section of the DEA, said. "We're talking about a laboratory in the middle of the jungle that was producing 7 tons of crystal methamphetamine every 3 days."
DEA
Photos from the Mexican meth lab show giant barrels of chemicals, generators and other equipment surrounded by trees and under a canopy.
The majority of that crystal meth would then travel through the southern border and up to the coast to New England, DeLena said, using established drug routes.
WMTW News 8 previously reported on these source cities in a special series, "Maine's Supply Chain." Heroin and fentanyl are smuggled from Mexico into the United States and then travel up the Interstate 95 corridor. The drugs are then divided in major U.S. cities like Chicago and New York, before heading to source cities.
For Maine, much of the fentanyl and meth that is killing Mainers is first stopping in Lawrence, Massachusetts, DeLena said.
DeLena was on the trip that took officials into the Mexican jungle – seeing where these drugs are being made.
DEA
Associate Special Agent In Charge Jon DeLena was on the trip that took officials into the Mexican jungle – seeing where these drugs are being made.
"There was a strong chemical odor," DeLena said. "One of the things I remembered most was that, as they were explaining to us -- they did a trench and all of the overflow chemicals just get dumped."
Photos and videos from the lab show giant barrels of chemicals, generators and other equipment surrounded by trees and under a canopy.
"Meth is really starting to alarm everybody because of the spikes we are starting to see," DeLena said. "We know that our market is really starting to get flooded with it."
That flood is part of an organized plan, DeLena said, where cartels have pinpointed Maine as a drug market.
DEA
This is what crystal methamphetamine looks like in its pure form.
Once manufactured, crystal meth almost looks like shards of glass. The stimulant is then crushed into a powder or pill. It is smoked, snorted or injected.
An overdose can cause convulsions, heart attack, stroke and death, according to the DEA.
"When you see the opponent that we're up against -- when you see the sophistication that they can put together somewhere in the middle of the jungle and produce such volume, it's challenging," DeLena said. "But that's what it's all about for us -- that's why we're doing this."
DeLena said the trip shows how the fight against Maine's opioid epidemic isn't just a local or regional battle – but an international one. Federal indictments regarding the drug trade show much of the illicit drugs flowing into Maine begin their journeys in Mexico.
The meth being made in these Mexican labs is much purer than the drugs being busted in small meth labs across Maine, leading to more overdoses, DeLena said.
Maine police have expressed their concern about the rise of small meth labs and mobile meth labs being found across the state.
Maine drug agents made 63 arrests in 2018 for the sale or manufacture of methamphetamine.
