AmphetaminesClandestine chemistry made its mark in the late 1960s when amphetamines became controlled substances in many countries. Biker gangs including the Hells Angels took control over the manufacture of amphetamines using standard laboratory equipment. Methamphetamine was a favorite among biker gangs. But after phenylacetone became a Schedule II controlled immediate precursor in 1980, it was harder for underground chemists to manufacture methamphetamine. Frustrated, underground chemists searched for alternative methods for producing methamphetamine. The two predominant methods which appeared both involve the reduction of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to methamphetamine. At the time, neither was a watched chemical, and pills containing the substance could be bought by the thousands without raising any kind of suspicion. In the 1990s, ephedrine / pseudoephedrine became a closely watched precursor by the DEA, making it somewhat more difficult for underground chemists to produce methamphetamine. Many individual States have enacted precursor control laws which limit the sale of over-the-counter cold medications which contain ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. DEA El Paso Intelligence Center EPICdata is showing a distinct downward trend in the seizure of clandestine drug labs for the illicit manufacture of methampetamine from a high of 17,356 in 2003. Lab seizure data for the United States is available from EPIC beginning in 1999 when 7,438 labs were reported to have been seized during that calendar year.
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The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 (CMEA) was signed into United States law on March 9, 2006 to regulate, among other things, retail over-the-counter sales of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine products. Retail provisions of the CMEA include daily sales limits and 30-day purchase limits, placement of product out of direct customer access, sales logbooks, customer ID verification, employee training, and self-certification of regulated sellers. The CMEA is found as Title VII of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199).[1] The last provisions of the law took effect on 30 September 2006.
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| ©2001 Eddie Evans |