How Mexican meth made it into our area

Ogallala celebrates its past as a rip-roarin' cattle town of the late 1800s, with monuments and tourist attractions.

It earned its claim to fame after the railroad reached what would become Ogallala in 1867, the closest point for Texas beef to reach transportation to the hungry East.

There probably won't be any monuments built to the latest way the community facilitates a connection between producers and buyers.

The fame -- or infamy -- actually belongs to a small farm near Big Springs, which provided high-quality methamphetamine to tweekers in Northeast Colorado, Northwest Kansas and Southwest Nebraska.

Methamphetamine has been a problem in our area for decades, but five years ago, after authorities cracked down on the sale of the pseudoephedine used as a raw material, they noticed fewer and fewer instances of small, local meth labs.

That left a vacuum in the market that was filled by drugs of such purity -- up to 95 percent at times -- leading officials to believe they were coming from a "super lab" in Mexico.

Law enforcement agencies, including the Central Nebraska Cooperative for Drug Enforcement based in North Platte and including McCook-area authorities, set up "Operation Mexican Seafood," using confidential informants seeking immunity from marijuana busts.

One informant said he sold $3,000 worth of crystal meth he picked up at the Big Springs ranch, and the alleged local kingpin, Andres "The Bastard" Barraza was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Nine others got terms ranging from 12 to 60 years. Some were career criminals, others were high school friends or knew each other from fast-food jobs.

NET News, which dug through court records and produced the story, reported that while local authorities wouldn't confirm the connection, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration linked the meth back to Mexico's Sinaloa province, home base of the drug cartel operated by Joaquin Guzman Loera, "El Chapo," who was arrested by much fanfare earlier this year.

While much attention has been focused on the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, and the harm it may cause to society, there is no question of the harm caused by meth, through crime, violence and ruined lives.

If marijuana were legalized everywhere, there would still be plenty of work to go around for those involved in enforcement of drug laws, and plenty of "customers" for jail and prison cells.

Check out NET News' original report here.