Los Angeles, July 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Los Angeles, California -

Los Angeles, CA – Federal agents' record-setting seizure of methamphetamine is good news for the fight against the illegal drug trade. But while applauding the confiscation, Muse Treatment also sees it as a reminder that the tragedy of meth addiction has not diminished.

Muse, an addiction treatment center based in Los Angeles, urges healthcare and political leaders to continue seeking solutions that remove the demand for meth and other drugs, feeding a disturbing rise in overdose deaths.

According to news reports, a group of Mexican nationals brought the drug into the U.S. from Otay Mesa, near Tijuana. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said agents saw the men remove dozens of cardboard boxes from the truck and place them in a Dodge van. They said the two vehicles contained about 148 bundles of a material that tested positive for meth, weighing more than 5,000 pounds, which they called “record-breaking” and said may be one of San Diego County’s largest meth busts in history.

The four men were arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, classified as a schedule II controlled substance due to its high potential for dependency and recreational abuse. If convicted, the men face stiff penalties, including a minimum of 10 years in prison and a $10 million fine.

“This monumental seizure represents another win against drug cartels that fuel addiction in the United States,” said Shelly S. Howe, DEA Special Agent in Charge, in a statement issued with the U.S. Attorney’s announcement of the bust. “Because of our great partnerships with other law enforcement agencies, we will continue to disrupt the cartels’ flow of drugs into our cities.”

The bust comes at a crisis point in the meth situation. Deaths connected to meth use spiked by nearly 180% from 2015 to 2019, according to a study published recently in JAMA Psychiatry, a journal of the American Medical Association. Meth represents a large share of deaths from all drug overdoses. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 96,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2020. Of those, about 15-20% involved methamphetamines.

Like opioids, much of the methamphetamine supply is being contaminated by the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which experts say is fueling the rapid rise in meth overdoses. In the wake of these troubling findings, addiction experts have called for more research and funding for effective methamphetamine treatment.