Ask HN: How could I safely contact drug cartels?

If your idea is truly something that could have such big effects, I'd say the ethical thing to do would be to document and share it widely, so that any individuals from cartels to lawmakers, agencies, drug research centre's etc. could do as they wish with the data. Again, if it's that revolutionary then it's very likely this open sharing will see it taking off. Not to mention that it's morally questionable to keep such a potentially beneficial harm reduction technique to oneself.

Would be easier with European cartels, where the whole economy is cartel-based. Not just the illegal criminal organizations in the US. In Germany or France they won't kill you, in Russia the danger is higher.

Short answer: you cannot safely contact drug cartels, and merely publicly stating the intention to do so to pitch an idea about how to reduce their visibility to law enforcement and increase their operating/profit margins creates non-negligible personal jeopardy.

> I assume the cartel leaders are essentially profit motivated, and would be interested in something that would prevent their customers from dying, cut down on the violence that brings law enforcement attention, and improve their profit margins.

This is probably a matter on which you should have done some research that does not involve discussing your idea before deciding to move forward with making even a vague outline of your thoughts public.

> I realize it sounds a little crazy

“A little crazy” is something you might, barely, be able to see in the distance if you look back toward normal right now.

> I'm not even sure where to start or what kind of lawyer to check with for advice.

Well, really, almost any lawyer before posting about it publicly would probably have been a good idea. Not about “how do I execute this idea”, because that is presupposing the answer to several other questions you’ve skipped over.

(Looking at your other posts)

> I'm in the US and I would actually be very interested in chatting with the DEA about my idea.

There are certain enforcement agencies whose approach to certain laws within their scope of enforcement responsibility is primarily to inform and guide so that people don’t get into the position where the less friendly enforcement actions become necessary.

But it has never beem my impression that that’s the DEA’s approach to anything, especially plans to help drug cartels increase their profit margins.

> I know there have been situations where federal agencies have turned out to be "the bad guys", but I guess I'm optimistic that they are generally smart, well intentioned, and interested in some of the same outcomes that I'm talking about.

Some of them, maybe. The problem is that some of the outcomes you are talking about are very much anti-goals of those agencies, and stopping people who are actively pursuing them is an objective likely to trump those that might be shared.

It sounds like if there is a non-insane idea at the core of the very bad execution concept you have laid out—and it sounds like it is some harm reduction approach, which is a fraught area for a number of reasons—and you want to acheive it without getting yourself killed by the cartels (or, more likely, the people you try to work your way through to reach them) and/or killed or imprisoned by law enforcement, you need to stop talking about your concept of execution and do some real researxh on the actors and institutions and structures (government and otherwise) in this space, and understand their goals, operating patterns, organization structures. etc., much better than you do, to evaluate if there is a viable approach to broaching your idea, and which actors (institutionally, by position within institutions, and bt specific named individuals) you should be going to to pitch it, based on institutional, positional, and personal interests, constraints, and capacities.

The naive generalized ideas about cartels and relevant law enforcement agencies you have are juat going to get you in deep trouble, otherwise.

This is not a situation where going forward with a half-considered idea and relying on the good intentions, procedural flexibility, and open civic mindedness and willingness to cooperate of drug cartel members and law enforcement agents is going to be a viable strategy.

I'm very aware of just how horrifically violent cartels can be. I'm not ignoring that or condoning their behavior.

Historically, there have been many instances of powerful groups of people willing to commit atrocities to stay in power. In some cases, it's still useful to attempt to negotiate or explore peaceful solutions. When you're negotiating, it's often useful to look for some kind of mutually beneficial outcome where both parties get something valuable, while giving up something less valuable. I have no idea if this would actually be possible in the case of drug cartels, but I think it's worth considering.