Availability

Most of the methamphetamine available in the United States is now produced in Mexico. Mexican methamphetamine continues to be the major low cost, high purity, high potency alternative to domestic production (NDTA, 2025). Mexican Transnational Crime Organizations (TCOs) source chemical shipments from China and smuggle them to clandestine labs in Mexico to produce methamphetamine from precursors. They continue to adapt to new restrictions on chemical precursors of methamphetamine (e.g., pseudoephedrine), by continually adopting alternative methods of manufacturing methods by using chemicals that are easier to obtain such as adopting (e.g., Phenyl-2-propanone [P2P] from phenylacetic acid) (NDTA, 2025).

Prior to 2005, clandestine meth labs were abundantly set up in a variety of places in the US, including private residences, motel and hotel rooms, apartments, house trailers, mobile homes, campgrounds, and commercial establishments. Domestic clandestine meth labs peaked in 2004, with 23,703 reported methamphetamine laboratory incidents (NDTA, 2020). In 2005, the Combat Meth Epidemic Act was passed in the US to regulate over-the-counter sales of methamphetamine precursor chemicals (e.g., ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, phenylpropanolamine), and to regulate retail practices (e.g., daily and monthly purchase limits, sales logbooks, customer ID verification, employee training, product placement, certify sellers). As Mexican methamphetamine dominated the black market, domestic production diminished.