Lawmakers target foreign meth supply

WASHINGTON – The United States would put greater pressure on Mexico and other countries to crack down on methamphetamine drug traffickers under proposals the House approved Tuesday.

By near unanimous votes, lawmakers added anti-meth proposals to the 2006-2007 authorization bill for the State Department and foreign aid programs.

States hard hit by the highly addictive drug have been cracking down on local meth labs and trying to limit access to pseudoephedrine, a cold remedy that is a key meth ingredient.

But lawmakers said the United States also needs to tackle international meth production since most meth used domestically comes from foreign sources, particularly Mexico.

“The spread of methamphetamine is a multifaceted problem ranging from the homemade mom-and-pop labs to the sophisticated illegal drug factories in foreign countries,” said Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore.

The House voted 423-2 to approve a proposal by Hooley and Rep. Mark Kennedy, R-Minn., to require the State Department to track the world’s biggest exporters of raw meth ingredients and the countries that import the most of those ingredients. The State Department would certify those countries’ cooperation with U.S. law enforcement in keeping meth’s raw ingredients out of the hands of drug traffickers.

They could lose up to 50 percent of their U.S. aid if the department considers them uncooperative.

The House also voted 424-1 to direct the State Department to make combating meth from Mexico’s super drug labs a priority.