Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge • Hacker News Board

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#41

Post by standardUser » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:06 PM UTC

ttul wrote: post #18

speedylight wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren’t there testing kits available that you could use?

And what if you test the good part and there is a hotspot of carfentanyl in the line you shoot up your nose? You’re dead instantly. There is no safe way to take illicit drugs anymore.

I know literally hundreds of people who regularly or semi-regularly do illicit drugs, including myself. And if you read the testing instructions, you'll find that the best way is to mix and test the entire package of drugs, not just a sample. Though to be honest, few people I know test with any regularity.

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#42

Post by dmonitor » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:07 PM UTC

fogforthought93 wrote: post #39

danrocks wrote: post #30

One of the favorite conspiracy theories of mine is that Fentanyl is a secret government project designed to scare the shit out of drug users so they stop using due to the fear of contamination.

What would the short-term benefit of this be for the government?

raise untraceable funds for black projects by selling fentanyl

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#43

Post by danrocks » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:07 PM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #35

danrocks wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see this assertion distilled further.

It's never been more clear than it is now thanks to Fentanyl. How often do people have accidental overdoses because their beer was contaminated? Or their Adderall? Never happens, virtually inconceivable. But the majority of overdoses from illegal drugs are due to either inaccurate dosage or unknown contaminants, problems that essentially cease to exist for legal drugs.

Agree in parts but behind this argument there is an assumption that legal drugs would cause the market for illegal drugs to collapse entirely. Has not happened with alcohol (between 14 and 23% of alcohol sold in the US is illegal).

Adderall (fake or legit) is heavily sold illegally and their lacing with Fentanyl is a massive problem already.

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#44

Post by explaininjs » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:07 PM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #26

danrocks wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in Asia (low drug problems) and Latin America (drug-dominated hellhole) I much prefer the way drugs (and dealers) are dealt with in Asia than in Latam. The idea that waging war on drugs is a bad one sounds like a nut idea from out-of-touch people who have never been to a narco-state like Brazil, Mexico, or Colombia.

The war on drugs is the sole cause of drug-related violence. If you want to end violence related to the drug trade in free societies, the solution is to end the drug war, not mass executions.

Solidly false. Just a few days ago I was held from behind with a knife to my neck by a Colombian who was sure I had cocaine and was demanding I hand it over. After insisting I didn't, he threw us both to the ground and choked me out until I went limp. I was mentally aware of the sensation of him stealing all my shit (as a backpacker, everything I had was on me), but was too out of breath when I came back around to do anything about it.

Keep in mind cocaine goes for $6/g there, and that's gringo street price.

Degenerate coke fiends can't be rationalized into "poor byproducts of the war on drugs". They're gnarly, and I'm glad to be away from them. God bless the USCG.

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#45

Post by danrocks » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:07 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #34

ttul wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also gave us more dangerous police. Consider how much less armed the police would need to be if they weren’t facing off with an armed paramilitary funded by $600B/yr in drug sales? Policing would be about enforcing mundane stuff, because against the drug trade there really isn’t much money in organized crime.

You're missing the "more dangerous criminals" step

Somehow criminals are never mentioned in these arguments.

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#46

Post by influx » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:07 PM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #32

danrocks wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Potentially, yes. But that case would only be good against poor _execution_ of the war on drugs, not the _concept_ that drugs need to be dealt with as if we were in a war. Activists seem to oppose the concept, which is where I disagree.

The concept is fundamentally flawed. Curtailing rights and imprisoning people for victmimless crimes is incompatible with anything approaching a free society. There are many approaches to dealing with the problems inherent with drugs, we just keep using the wrong over and over and at an extraordinary cost, in money, liberty and ruined lives.

Living in Seattle and seeing the fentanyl crisis first hand, I disagree with you that addicts aren’t victims.

Not to mention the citizens who are victimized by the crime needed to sustain that addiction.

Legalization of marijuana has gone fine, but there are drugs so powerful that adults lose all control and reason, and I can’t see ever legalizing something like that.

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#47

Post by asveikau » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:07 PM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #35

danrocks wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see this assertion distilled further.

It's never been more clear than it is now thanks to Fentanyl. How often do people have accidental overdoses because their beer was contaminated? Or their Adderall? Never happens, virtually inconceivable. But the majority of overdoses from illegal drugs are due to either inaccurate dosage or unknown contaminants, problems that essentially cease to exist for legal drugs.

I think pharmaceutical contamination happens. As does over the counter products, especially under-regulated stuff like vitamins and supplements.

It's just that fentanyl risk is more dramatic than those contaminants. Maybe one is "increase your risk of cancer over a couple of decades" or even "does not have intended effect" and the other is "stop your heart soon after consumption".

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#48

Post by Ekaros » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

standardUser wrote: post #35

danrocks wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to see this assertion distilled further.

It's never been more clear than it is now thanks to Fentanyl. How often do people have accidental overdoses because their beer was contaminated? Or their Adderall? Never happens, virtually inconceivable. But the majority of overdoses from illegal drugs are due to either inaccurate dosage or unknown contaminants, problems that essentially cease to exist for legal drugs.

If we are not talking about new analogs created to bypass legislation most drugs are also produced as pharmaceuticals. And those are pure enough and dosage is controlled well enough. How often do we hear that some batch is withdrawn from market?

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#49

Post by mc32 » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

darth_avocado wrote: post #12

bruceb wrote: post #6

Like some other things the news pushes, drugs are always on the rise. >While the report said the markets in Africa and Asia were "still limited Maybe because they put you to death for importation in South East Asia.

Not just that, societal acceptance of drugs is very low in Asia. Even if a country will not put you to death for importing drugs, people will reject you from the society if you use them. That can be a strong deterrent to people even trying them.

With one exception of the Philippines. Duterte did take a hard stance, but the population in general is pretty accepting --at least much more than in any other eastern Asian nation and maybe that acceptance results in the high incidence of use.

Re: Cocaine production reaches record levels as new trafficking hubs emerge

#50

Post by danrocks » Sun, Mar 19, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #36

plantwallshoe wrote: post #2

Everyone I know who recreationally does cocaine is scared to continue because of the risk of fentanyl contamination.

Curious: from an economic perspective why would anyone in the industry want to contaminate their product like that? Like it's a fundamentally different substance with a different effect. If you bought mixed drugs from your dealer, you'd probably not do business with them again and would warn people away from them.

> If you bought mixed drugs from your dealer, you'd probably not do business with them again and would warn people away from them.

Dead customers can't return anyway.