Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 64 posts

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#41

Post by ippisl »

zerostar07 wrote: post #37

I wonder why the "DIY for drugs" movement is taking so long to become mainstream. I mean, it makes sense that the role of drug cartels should be diminished by now. With governments reluctant to legalize anything, an "open drugs" initiative might work.

There's already a diy movement for weed. there are forums with growing techniques and tips.

But i'm not sure it does reduce the risk in a big way. It might even increase the risk, while also increasing complexity and work. Doesn't see like a good solution.

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#42

Post by mietek »

jayfuerstenberg wrote: post #18
InclinedPlane wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not legalize all of the drugs? We've proven that we can't stop people from using drugs. What advantage is there in ensuring that the billions spent on drugs gets funneled into the hands of hardened criminals?

I won't pretend to know enough about all drugs to advocate legalizing them all, but certainly some like Marijuana aren't exactly making Amsterdam and Vancouver collapse overnight. If you make something illegal you make them more scarce and therefore more valuable. Erase the value by erasing the scarcity and the problem actually just goes away. For harder substances I am not certain if this makes sense.

Portugal has decriminalized all drugs in 2001.

"Serious drug use is down significantly, particularly among young people; the burden on the criminal-justice system has eased; the number of people seeking treatment has grown; and the rates of drug-related deaths and cases of infectious diseases have fallen."

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#43

Post by vl »

electic wrote: post #16

A simple UAV is not far off and I am sure they are working on it. You can bet your bottom dollar on it. It is a very interesting problem to solve. The U.S. government has to deal with subs, tunnels, and now ultralights.

It is a solved problem - in 2003 model plance crossed Atlantic on autopilot. They even open-sources the software.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3145577.stm

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#44

Post by intended »

mietek wrote: post #42
jayfuerstenberg wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't pretend to know enough about all drugs to advocate legalizing them all, but certainly some like Marijuana aren't exactly making Amsterdam and Vancouver collapse overnight. If you make something illegal you make them more scarce and therefore more valuable. Erase the value by erasing the scarcity and the problem actually just goes away. For harder substances I am not certain if this makes sense.

Portugal has decriminalized all drugs in 2001. "Serious drug use is down significantly, particularly among young people; the burden on the criminal-justice system has eased; the number of people seeking treatment has grown; and the rates of drug-related deaths and cases of infectious diseases have fallen."

Heh, I think I brought up this very point in HN, and it was pointed out that the burden had shifted to medical services now.

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#45

Post by itmag »

zerostar07 wrote: post #37

I wonder why the "DIY for drugs" movement is taking so long to become mainstream. I mean, it makes sense that the role of drug cartels should be diminished by now. With governments reluctant to legalize anything, an "open drugs" initiative might work.

I would imagine it would be expensive and require mostly-unobtainable materials as well as a high level of chemistry experience?

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#46

Post by pessimizer »

viraptor wrote: post #40
kitsune_ wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They need to legalize all drugs. Regulate and tax them. Classify heavy addiction as a disease and treat it as such. Support the addicts with the taxes from the drugs.

Support addicts... and their families and child services in some cases. I don't want to turn this into "think of the children", but in case we're talking about addicts which need to be taken care of by the government, it's unlikely that the effect will be limited to that single person only. In case that person needs to be treated in a special way, that person may affect the nearby environment too.

>it's unlikely that the effect will be limited to that single person only

It's unlikely that the effect has been limited to that single person only. We don't care about the families now when we put their parents in prison - so why would keeping parents out of prison and reducing the price and risk associated with their drugs give us more of an obligation to their families?

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#47

Post by pessimizer »

StavrosK wrote: post #31
base698 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get Columbian coffee for $7/pound in a grocery store in the US. It can't be that much different in the raw manufacturing costs.

Why do people misspell Colombia like that all the time?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus

Because in English, that second 'o' in such an awkward place would obviously become a schwa, and because the country's namesake is spelled with a 'u' in English, too?

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#48

Post by clueless123 »

Schwolop wrote: post #39

Wait a cotton picking minute. I abandoned a bunch of robotic product ideas because I couldn't find a market niche that could afford them. I have the skills to make fully autonomous UAVs and AUVs. Here is a very wealthy market niche. Hmmmm.... I'm pretty sure it's legal to build and sell things that could be used for illegal purposes. So, how many Hacker News reading intercontinental drug dealers are out there?

Better call Saul!

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#49

Post by clueless123 »

JasonFruit wrote: post #12

In my understanding, the load-carrying capability of most ultralights is minimal. They give figures based on 250 pounds of drugs, but in some models of ultralight, I would have weigh under 190 pounds just to get airborne with a full tank of gas. I'm not able to find how many of those 223 "ultralight incursions" were actually carrying drugs, either. I question the reality of this problem.

There are may ultralights ranked for two 190 lb passengers.. using exact fuel a light pilot and overloading a bit would do the trick.

Re: Drug Cartels Now Using UAVs

#50

Post by [deleted] »

itmag wrote: post #45
zerostar07 wrote: post #37

I wonder why the "DIY for drugs" movement is taking so long to become mainstream. I mean, it makes sense that the role of drug cartels should be diminished by now. With governments reluctant to legalize anything, an "open drugs" initiative might work.

I would imagine it would be expensive and require mostly-unobtainable materials as well as a high level of chemistry experience?

[deleted]
Post reply on HN