Thank you Director Walters. Good morning.
We've been meeting today with representatives of state and local law enforcement involved in the fight against methamphetamine, and with some of our international partners who have played a central role in our progress over the past several years. That progress is due to collaboration – here and abroad – in targeting meth at every level of production and distribution.
Director Walters has spoken about the international side of the equation, so I'd like to take just a few minutes to talk about the domestic side. The good news, as I said in my speech to the conference earlier this morning, is that we have made great strides in our fight against meth.
Thanks both to tougher laws at the state and federal level and to coordinated law enforcement initiatives, we’ve shut down a significant number of domestic meth labs. That reduction means fewer drug-endangered children and fewer meth-related toxic dump sites. It means fewer neighborhoods devastated by meth use or endangered by meth production. And it means fewer casualties among law enforcement officers and other first responders.
In conjunction with state and local law enforcement, we've also put an end to some major drug rings. In December of last year, for example, we concluded an initiative known as Operation Funk 49. That initiative had begun three years earlier, with nothing more than a tip from a meth user on the streets of San Diego. Through painstaking investigation, that tip eventually led to a major drug trafficking organization stretching from Mexico to several states across the country. And it resulted in more than 200 arrests nationwide, the seizure of more than 800 pounds of meth (and a lot of cocaine as well), the recovery of 75 weapons, and the forfeiture of over $27 million in U.S. currency.
Operations like these take a lot of hard work, a lot of time, and a lot of cooperation, but they produce a lot of results.
For example, there has been a nearly 50% decrease in methamphetamine seizures across our Southwest Border. The price per gram of meth has increased dramatically nationwide – over 84% last year alone. The purity of the meth we are seizing is decreasing – over 25% in that same period. And the number of people testing positive for meth in workplace drug screenings has declined more than 50% in the past two years.
We’re pleased with what we have done, and the inroads we have made. But we cannot allow our successes to diminish our efforts, because the threat posed by meth is still too great, and because meth producers and smugglers continue to adapt their ways in response to what we do.
In addition, although the big picture may look rosier than it did a few years ago, there are some regions and states that continue to struggle with meth and the violent crime that comes with drug trafficking.
For those reasons, we pledge to redouble our efforts to combat meth – as well as the growing problem of pharmaceutical abuse. The DEA, under the strong leadership of Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, who is with us here today, continues its extensive enforcement and training efforts. And we continue to work closely with state and local authorities, as well as our counterparts in other countries, including those represented here, to reduce the availability of precursor chemicals and the supply of meth.
To mark this continued cooperation, our nations will be signing a joint statement here today. That statement, which Director Walters will sign on behalf of the United States, calls for continued information sharing and controls against precursor diversion, supports monitoring of global trade activity in precursor chemicals, and highlights the need for control mechanisms against the diversion of controlled pharmaceuticals.
The story we have to tell when it comes to meth is a story, mostly, of success. Here and abroad, we are doing what we can to keep it that way.
Thank you.
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