Evidence of Racial Targeting

• South-Asian-owned stores were nearly 100 times more likely to be targeted by Operation Meth Merchant than white-owned stores in the area.

• By the time Operation Meth Merchant was completed, almost 20 percent of the South-Asian-owned stores in the area were indicted, compared to only 0.2 percent of stores owned by whites or other ethnic groups.

• Operation Meth Merchant resulted in the arrest of 49 people, 44 of whom are South Asian, and 33 of whom have the last name Patel.

• Operation Meth Merchant targeted 24 stores for investigation, 23 of which are owned by South Asians.  This, despite the fact that approximately 80 percent of area stores are owned by whites or other ethnic groups, according to the ACLU’s investigation.

• The officials directing Operation Meth Merchant had evidence that at least 16 white-owned stores in the area sold products used to manufacture methamphetamine, and yet failed to investigate any of them.  These stores include Avaco, Bell's Smokeshop, Bi-Lo, Breezy Top, Citgo Quikmart, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Food Lion, Fred's, Home Depot, Jerrell's Food Mart, Lowe's, Sam's Club, and Wal-mart.

• The officials directing Operation Meth Merchant have failed to disclose the existence of any evidence against the vast majority of the 23 South-Asian-owned stores prior to targeting them for investigation.

Ineffective & Irrational Policing

• The operation relied on the use of at least 15 undercover informants, some with convictions for making and selling methamphetamine, who were promised leniency or outright payments for helping to generate cases against convenience store owners and clerks.

• Police most frequently used an informant with a known history of fraud convictions to make cases against store owners and clerks. This informant has already misidentified at least three of the accused.

• None of the South Asians charged in Operation Meth Merchant is suspected of or charged with using, selling or producing methamphetamine.

• Those charged face up to 20 years in prison, forfeiture of their stores, fines of up to $250,000, and, in some cases, deportation.

The Big Picture: Meth Use in America & the Government Response

• The U.S. Congress recently added a provision to the USA Patriot Act, the “Combat Meth Act,” that requires stores to keep pseudoephedrine products locked behind counters and customers purchasing these products to present identification and register their purchase complete with a signature. Americans suffer from over one billion colds each year, according to the National Institute of Health.  A government “watch list” of cold and allergy sufferers is a senseless waste of resources and an unwarranted infringement on privacy.
  

• Meth use during the past four years has either declined or stayed flat, according to two major national drug-use studies. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that meth use did not increase at all from 2002 through 2004, the last year for which there is data. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future Study, which examines drug use among youth, actually shows a decline in meth use among high-school students from 1999 to 2005.

• Approximately 600,000 Americans, representing less than 0.2 percent of the population, reported using meth in the past month, according to the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health.  In comparison, more than 120 million Americans, representing more than 50 percent of the population, reported using alcohol in the past month.