US Nabs Record Amounts of CocaineJune 06, 2008
Associated Press
FORT BLISS, Texas - U.S. authorities seized a record 316 metric tons of cocaine last year, top drug interdiction officials said Thursday as they credited Mexico's increasing cooperation with helping force drug traffickers to raise their prices and try new smuggling methods.
John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the record seizures have led to a 21 percent jump in the price of cocaine and a drop in the purity of the drug. The price of methamphetamine has jumped even more, he said, thanks to a crackdown on U.S. labs and Mexican authorities doing more to stop importation of precursor material.
Walters spoke Thursday at Fort Bliss, just outside El Paso, during a break in meetings with The Interdiction Committee, a multi-agency committee focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S.
U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard and chairman of the committee, said the rise in drug prices shows U.S. anti-drug efforts are working.
The average price of a pure gram of cocaine was $96.58 in early 2007 and rose to $117.22 by the end of the year, according to ONDCP, citing data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
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