How much precursor makes a curse?

I’m not trying to be snarky, but not being a chemist (and becoming hopelessly lost when I had to study organic chemistry was a major factor in my switching my undergraduate degree program from Biology to English), I don’t whether this is as meaningful as it is made out to be or not.

But, with all the reportage on the seizure in Queretáro of ” the biggest seizure there’s been of precursor chemicals (in Mexico),”  I am curious what exactly that means, either in terms of meth production or in value of goods.  I know that the Army found “787 tonnes of phenylacetamide and 52.5 tonnes of tartaric acid, all in 25 kilogram (55 pound) packet”, but perhaps someone can help me out.

I’m assuming that is a large amount of these chemicals, but the only thing I know about phenylacetamide (and that mostly from Wikipedia) is that it is a “precursor” for a lot of industrial and pharmaceutical products, and tartaric acid is the acid found in wine, and an anti-oxidant. Via an AP article in the Citizens Free Pres Ireland Newsline, I gleaned that  “Traffickers have increasingly turned to such chemicals after Mexico imposed tight restrictions on pseudoephedrine, the most popular raw ingredient for meth,” which means that restrictions on imports of more popular “precusors” is cutting off supplies, but still doesn’t enlighten us very much.

Reuters photo

Assuming the penylacetamide and tartaric acid were meant for meth production (and weren’t smuggled for other wholesale industrial use), are these difficult to obtain chemicals, and how much meth — which I understand requires several other ingredients NOT in this warehouse — are we talking about?

Several of us were burned when reports on something called the “Tepito Cartel” managed to set off a bomb (which only killed the would-be bomber) back in early 2008, leading to some ridiculous speculation about Al Qaida, or “escalating terrorism” based on the fact that the bomb used the same “precursors” sometimes used in Middle-Eastern political bombings… those “precursors” being mostly hydrogen peroxide (which you can get in any beauty supply store, or pharmacy, for that matter), sulfuric acid and gunpowder (both easy enough to find).  I don’t mean to slam the journalists who covered this story, who if they had any science background at all, probably were also Organic Chem dropouts who transferred to J-School, but shouldn’t some editor along the way have asked, “what’s a precursor, anyway?