Following a major upward trend over the last two decades, methamphetamine seizures in North America declined over the 2021-2024 period.

• In parallel to declines in the quantities of methamphetamine seized in recent years, there have been ongoing declines in the number of dismantled methamphetamine laboratories in the United States; this, in combination with the identification of Mexico as the main country of origin or departure of methamphetamine seized in North America, point to a shift in methamphetamine manufacture from the United States to Mexico over the last two decades. Most methamphetamine enters the United States at its South-West border, notably along the borders of California and Texas with Mexico.
• Most seizures of methamphetamine precursor chemicals in North America have been reported from Mexico, mostly P-2-P and related pre-precursor chemicals (such as phenylacetic acid) while – far smaller quantities of – methamphetamine precursors were seized in the other North American countries, mainly related to pseudoephedrine in the United States and to ephedrine and its preparations in Canada over the 2020-2024 period.
• Methamphetamine precursors seized in Mexico were reported to have originated primarily in East Asia; but in line with a larger number of P-2-P related pre-precursors having been scheduled at the international level and improved precursor controls in East Asia, trafficking of such precursor chemicals to North America appears to have declined over the 2020-2024 period ? and so did seizures of such precursors as well as seizures of methamphetamine in North America.
• Despite a decline in seizures, overall purity of methamphetamine has remained basically stable at high level of around 95 per cent across the United States over the 2021-2024 period. This was made possible as clandestine laboratories in Mexico proved to be highly innovative, improving the overall efficiency of their operations as they developed a method that allowed them to recycle discarded waste products from methamphetamine production without compromising the target purity levels.
• In contrast to the overall decline in the quantities of methamphetamine seized in recent years, the quantities of fake Adderall pills or fake MDMA tablets containing methamphetamine instead increased strongly in the United States over 2021-2024 period.

Additional sources:
Drug Enforcement Administration, 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment (United States Department of Justice, 2025).
INCB, Precursors Report 2025 - Annex 3 (2026).