U.S. Says Mexican Gangs Drug Migrants for Stamina

Reuters ^ | Jun 15, 2004 | Tim Gaynor

[Tailgunner Joe]

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Human smugglers in Mexico may be using stimulants to boost the stamina of dangerously exhausted immigrants trekking through deserts to cross the U.S. border, authorities said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, said its believes human traffickers around the town of Palomas, in Chihuahua state in northern Mexico, are supplying migrants with a stimulant thought to be ephedra.

"We have received recent information through interviews with migrants that they had either been given stimulants directly, or had been told to take them to give them more staying power as they make long treks through vast and challenging terrain," said Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier.

"We are concerned for the migrants from a health and safety standpoint as it is widely believed that these stimulants, which we believe to contain ephedra, can cause accelerated dehydration or even heart attacks," he added.

A herbal product that contains ephedrine, banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ephedera is a dangerous stimulant that raises blood pressure and stresses circulation, health officials say. It is used to accelerate weight loss and increase athletic performance. Manufacturers say it is safe when used as directed.

The possible use of the stimulant was being investigated in connection with the death of a 17-year-old Mexican who collapsed and died of heat exposure in the deserts of the El Paso sector on June 4, Mosier said.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants from Mexico and Central America make the hazardous journey over the deserts and rivers that mark the 2,000-mile frontier with the United States.

The U.S. Bureau of Border Protection said 346 people died making the crossing in the 12 months to October last year, 139 of them from dehydration and exposure in southern Arizona alone. Many also die swimming across the Rio Grande river.

[Tacis]

We must immediately put up signs along the border to protect river swimmers!!

Presidente Fox won't let them be put on his side because the cost would cut into his drug profits.

The signs should say, "No Lifeguards On Duty" and "Ephedra Is Prohibited." The signs will have to be printed in Spanish and Arabic and be lighted at night.

We'll be able to check the effectiveness of the signs by measuring the piles of ephedra on the south shore.

[FITZ]

A lot of the illegals were using stimulants and other drugs before they ever met up with coyotes --- a lot of drug runners coming over --- I bet sometimes the cocaine leaks out of the balloons they've swallowed. Much illegal immigration is only about drugs anyhow.

[ikka]

Wouldn't it be something if the long-awaited border crackdown occurred as a result of a ticked-off FDA instead of Border Patrol?

[Imal]

The U.S. Bureau of Border Protection said 346 people died making the crossing in the 12 months to October last year, 139 of them from dehydration and exposure in southern Arizona alone. Many also die swimming across the Rio Grande river.

All to support taxpayer-subsidized cheap labor from a class of what are effectively slaves, and tacitly endorsed by both Democrats and Republicans under financial and political pressure from the businesses that profit from it.

Lovely.

[Indie]

This whole piece is a propaganda hit on ephedra, which is the latest EEEVILLL victim of the "reefer madness" mentality of the government.

Yeah ephedra will kill you...IF you take half the bottle!! Just as anything else will!!

If you can not tell, I am really POed.

This article should be about how the US contributes to its problem by its own PC policy of revolving door "justice" [i.e. none] and its policy of attracting illegals to begin with by allusions to amnesty by Bush and lax enforcement in the work environment.

And besides, who cares about the deaths of illegals by people's own irresponsibility? Now it is OUR fault the poor poor babies are in danger!! [There has to be some deterrent and this is as good as any.] I wonder which side the Border Patrol is on?

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