DEA: MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS ARE NOW OPERATING IN ALL 50 STATES

A rural patch of land filled with small towns and family farms tucked within the rolling hills of the Ozark Mountains, Douglas County seems an unlikely place to be at the center of America’s war on drugs.

But with the proliferation of cheap, high-potency methamphetamine flooding into the U.S. from super labs operated by Mexican cartels, local officials at this municipality in south-central Missouri say they’re seeing more dealers and users than ever before.

“We’ve always had a meth problem because we’re a rural county,” Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase told Fox News Latino. “But now we’re not seeing the ‘shake-and-bake’ cooks anymore, the stuff we’re getting now is about as pure as it can get.”

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has arrested 69 people in the last four months for methamphetamine use and distribution. In neighboring Webster County, prosecutors recently charged five people with the murder of a cartel capo sent to the region to collect a debt.

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