Two arrested in $7.8 million dollar meth lab operation in North Georgia, GBI says

On Thursday, September 1, 2022 at 6:02:42 PM UTC, ltlee1 wrote:

On Wednesday, August 31, 2022 at 9:34:27 AM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:

"ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - A tip to law enforcement led to the discovery of a multi-million dollar meth lab in North Georgia.

The lab was run from a horse stable equipped to manufacture millions of dollars worth of crystal methamphetamine, officials say.

Drug agents began investigating after being tipped off to suspicious activity at 2064 New Franklin Church Road in Canon. They obtained and executed a search warrant at the location and discovered an active methamphetamine conversion lab inside one of

the buildings on the property.

Agents with the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office recovered 255 gallons of liquid methamphetamine solution and five kilograms of finished crystal meth.

“It is estimated the amount of liquid methamphetamine solution that the lab was likely capable of producing was over 700 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of over $7.8 million.”

Officials said on August 24, 34-year-old Dustin Tyler Burgess, of Ellijay, Georgia, and 30-year-old Uriel C. Mendoza, of Copperhill, Tennessee, were arrested and both charged with trafficking in methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine with

intent to distribute, and manufacturing methamphetamine in the presence of children.

Due to the size of the lab, agents contacted the DEA Clan Lab Team to help collect evidence and dispose of hazardous materials."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/two-arrested-in-7-8-million-dollar-meth-lab-operation-in-north-georgia-gbi-says/ar-AA11a5MC

US officials love to blame other nation for drug abuses in the US. However, the demand, supply could come readily inside the US. Americans have no problem operating a Meth Lab. The heart of drug use epidemic is really “late industrialism” in the US

—"a time when many workers are overextended and living in precarity. Coping mechanisms might be chemical or digital, benign or toxic."

"Unlike heroin and crack cocaine—drugs whose ascendence during the 1970s and ‘80s was inextricably associated with urban America—meth has long been known as the drug of the middle of nowhere. The original labs were confined to barns on the fringe

of populated places, where there was the space and privacy to cook big batches of methamphetamine. The process took about two days of chemical mixing, and required large amounts of pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient of many nasal decongestant meds.
One pharmaceutical executive told Pine that meth production once resembled old-time moonshine operations, when people would buy standard supplies (in this case, cold and allergy pills) over the counter and then hide out in the woods to create the illicit
substance.

In 2006, the federal government instituted the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, which made bulk amounts of pseudoephedrine much harder to obtain ... Meth lab seizures dropped over the next two years.

Then, via word of mouth, an alternative recipe emerged, called “Shake and Bake.” In only a few hours, cooks could make small amounts of meth inside a soda bottle, shaking it periodically (or “burping” it) to get the pressure out. This new

method was more dangerous—“if you miss a beat, it’ll explode in your lap or in your face,” Pine says—but it was also much more portable. Inside public bathrooms, long-term stay hotels, car backseats, the hollowed-out cores of trees, meth could
be brewed. It transformed from a rural drug into an anywhere drug, one that could proliferate in the cul-de-sacs of suburbs and exurbs as easily as wooded isolation.

...

The impulse to find productive outlets—or to mentally escape once those outlets are gone—should be familiar to anyone, in any social class or region in the U.S., ... That’s the reality of America under what UC Irvine anthropologist Kim Fortun has

dubbed “late industrialism”—a time when many workers are overextended and living in precarity. Coping mechanisms might be chemical or digital, benign or toxic."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-04/the-rise-and-fall-of-america-s-rural-meth-labs

https://nationalinterest.org/feature/fentanyl-weapon-mass-destruction-205507

"Fentanyl Is a WMD
President Joe Biden has declared the deaths caused by illicit fentanyl smuggled into the United States a national emergency but has not followed up with decisive action.

According to a February 2022 report from the bipartisan Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, “in terms of loss of life and damage to the economy, illicit synthetic opioids have the effect of a slow-motion weapon of mass destruction in
pill form.” Biden should make this assessment official. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines a WMD as a “nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological, or other device that is intended to harm a large number of people.” Fentanyl meets
these criteria and should be designated as such.

This idea is not new. According to a leaked memo, the DHS proposed labeling fentanyl a WMD in 2019. "

1. Given the devastation in the US, Chinese chemical reagent manufacturer should do a better job in controlling its export. They have to spent more effort to make sure that they are not sending precursor chemicals to drug gangs in Mexico or anywhere.
To be sure, such effort will increase the production cost. And consequently export price for legitimate buyers.

2. Problem solved?
One likely outcome for Chinese manufacturers to better control their exports and consequently export price is that manufacturers big and small from other nations, including US producers, would get into the business of making precursor chemicals.

The US can propose labeling fentanyl a WMD. But it might as well label US way of life a WMD. After all, Mexico which is supposed to make Fentanyl does not suffer like the US.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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