A fresh crystal meth crisis has been gripping the US while authorities battle the country's opioid epidemic. Britain is also dealing with an opioid problem and there are fears the meth crisis could spread across the Atlantic and hit the UK.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
A fresh crystal meth crisis gripping the States could make its way across the Atlantic and cause chaos in the UK, an expert has warned.
Super strength crystal meth "2.0" has been ravaging the US of late, with a 250% increase in deaths related to the potent drug recorded between 2005 and 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
William Garriott, a professor at Drake University, Iowa, says that patterns in narcotics abuse and drug trafficking mean the crisis could take hold in Britain.
"Anything is possible," he told Daily Star Online, when asked if trends in meth use and trafficking could see addiction levels linked to the stimulant rise in the UK.
"Today, methamphetamine use is closely interwoven with the opioid crisis which has followed its own somewhat unique trajectory.
View inside of a clandestine methamphetamine lab (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
7 women caught with meth hidden up their vaginas by stunned airport security
El Chapo's model wife told she will be killed after drug lord's son in shoot-out
"The two crises – methamphetamine and opioids – are really converging in some startling ways at the moment."
He added: "And in the end, drugs are subject to trends just like anything else."
Dubbed crystal meth "2.0" because of its high purity, it is feared Mexican drug cartels have been flooding the US with the highly addictive substance while health authorities have been occupied dealing with the country's opioid epidemic.
"It's a lot like Breaking Bad," Tim Lohmar, St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney, told the Fix earlier this year.
"And if you're familiar with that show, you know that the purity of the methamphetamine and the ease of the mass production is what made it so addictive and relatively cheap.
Mexico police raid a meth lab (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
El Chapo son's botched arrest sees crooks try to cash in on cartel fears
"These Mexican labs are making a very pure methamphetamine. It's almost night and day different than your old-fashioned basement meth lab sort of thing.
He added: "They can mass produce the meth and distribute it at a reduced price, which consequently has led to a rise in local consumption."
According to a threat assessment carried out by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), meth – commonly referred to as "ice" – tested in the program was found to be 97% pure, while supply remained high and prices low.
At the US-Mexico border, DEA agents are reportedly seizing 10 to 20 times the amounts they did a decade ago. Meth, experts say, has never been purer, cheaper or more lethal.
The States went through its first meth crisis in the early 2000s when product made from pseudoephedrine – a drug found in sinus treatments – was cooked up in labs across the country.
A huge meth bust (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
China's El Chapo flooding world with crystal meth via mysterious Asian cartel
The phenomenon inspired the hit Netflix show Breaking Bad but varients of crystal meth have been around since 1887 when Czech scientists created ephedrine.
It has even been reported that the Nazi regime used the drug during the 1930s and 1940s at the onset of WWI.
A pill form of the drug, Pervitin, was distributed by the millions to Wehrmacht troops before the successful invasion of France in 1940.
Ice abuse in the UK has remained relatively low since authorities began recording use of the drug. In 2015, 25,000 people said they had used the substance, according to a Home Office study.
Walter White from Breaking Bad (Image: 2015 Los Angeles Times)
Meth addict who died for 6 mins unveils amazing transformation as he's elected mayor
It is feared, however, that if the UK's booming cocaine trade is disrupted then criminal gangs could cash in.
"If UK law enforcement succeed in severely disrupting the cocaine trade, then you might see meth rise as a replacement drug," Professor Nicholas Parsons told Daily Star Online.
"Cocaine and meth are both stimulants. Often times when one of these drugs is in short supply, the other rises.
He added: "So if the cocaine market in your country were destroyed— and the demand for stimulation among the British persisted— then perhaps meth [...] would rise in popularity."
Earlier this month a Polish man was arrested attempting to smuggle 100g of meth into the UK through a port in Scotland.
Lukasz Skarbonkiewicz, 36, was caught after being stopped by police at Cairnryan in July this year. He was found to be in possession of £10,000 worth of meth. The original source of the drug is unknown.
Germany reported a 20-fold increase in quantities of meth seized in 2012. Based on known trafficking flows and interceptions, the global market for meth has expanded six-fold since 2008.