Monday, August 10, 2009

Narcotics (in a nutshell)

The North American narcotics problem is a function of supply and demand. The US and Canada demand them and are willing to pay any price for them - and people supply the demand.

The Mexicans get cocaine through the US border. Very little cocaine is seized at the border (as a percentage of the whole).

Why?

Cocaine is produced in South America and is transshipped through Mexico primarily to the US. The Mexican middle-men who transport and market cocaine in the US pay "insurance" to get it through.

Why?
Because the Mexicans pay top dollar for the cocaine they buy from Colombia. They're less concerned about seizures of heroin or marijuana that are produced in Mexico because they haven't invested as much money in the product.

What is "insurance"?

The narcotics traffickers use bribery of government officials, dig elaborate tunnels, some miles long, under the US/Mexico Border, and find other more sophisticated means to get cocaine through. The word used by narcotraffickers is "insurance".

Isn't narcotics trafficking a crime in Mexico?

Yes it is. The truth is that the bulk of narcotraffickers in Mexico are in the agricultural produce business. It make sense. They grow and transport potatoes, carrots and lettuce. They also grow marijuana and opium poppies. The same transportation infrastructure for moving potatoes to market are used to transport the higher value narcotics crops to market. Agriculture and sending legitimate agriculture to market both within and outside Mexico constitutes a large percentage of Mexican commerce with the US.

Legitimate Businesses

Many completely legitimate agricultural businesses are preyed on by narcotraffickers who "lean on them" to transport illegal narcotics (crops) as well. The price for not cooperating is that your family members will be kidnapped and held as ransom for the service they require. Mexico City leads the world in kidnapping for ransom.

Murder

To date this year, there have been over 4,000 organized crime related murders in Mexico. The number is expected to top 10,000 this year. Who knows if they'll meet their goal? The narcotics business has become synonymous with homicide.

7 comments:

WoFat said...

Has anyone ever found out WHY Americans insist on using the stuff?

Opus #6 said...

Wo, they use it to escape their troubles, to feel more popular and less shy, to relax, to energize, to fix anything and everything that is wrong with them at the moment. Only later do they realize that drugs did not fix, but compounded their problems. But by then they are an addict. :-(

Stephanie Faris said...

Scary stuff. This is the underbelly of drugs that people don't see. Do you know how many people I know who smoke marijuana? People with kids in the house...family people. It's astounding to me. I don't know anyone who uses cocaine but I have a feeling if someone I knew did, they probably wouldn't be as proud of it as they are the marijuana thing.

LL said...

It's never been a temptation for me. I don't have any idea why people use any of it. People who are users can explain it to me but I still can't internalize any justification.

To me it's like injecting strychnine.

darlin said...

What an immense mess this world of our is in. What I find repulsive is that this is all about money. What the heck ever happened to good clean fun back in the good old days? (The days before technology and instant gratification.)

Opus you hit it dead on, escapism is where it all begins and the sad part for many is that the end result is a lonely, painful death.

Thank you LL for this insight, this one really has me thinking, not about much in particular, just thinking!

LL said...

Darlin -- this dovetails with your social work interest. Many of the social ills in every country can be traced back to chemical dependency. From crime to domestic physical and emotional abuse.

darlin said...

I agree 100% LL, all one has to do is look no further than the prison systems. The vast majority are incarcerated due to addiction or dependency of some form. I strongly believe that the majority of "cases" I will eventually work with will stem from addiction in one form or another.

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