NEWS: Someone is Winning the War On Drugs; Cocaine Prices Hit Rock Bottom

CULTURE: Someone is Winning the War On Drugs; Cocaine Prices Hit Rock Bottom

Say what you will about the War Against Terror. Call it unnecessary, say it’s missing the point, or argue the logic of waging war on an intangible concept rather than a nation. But do you remember a time, not so long ago, when our country was locked in a merciless struggle with an even deadlier and only slightly more substantial foe?

That’s right -- we were fighting the WAR ON DRUGS. The heroes of America gathered round and came up with catchy slogans and programs like “Just Say No,” Partnership for a Drug Free America, and D.A.R.E. (Drug Awareness Resistance Education). Flashback:



More or less forgotten in recent years, the War on Drugs is apparently still being fought with less than stellar results. However, it seems that after all these years someone may actually be winning the theoretical battle. Who? Well...it’s you, the consumer.

According to DEA statistics, the price of cocaine has been steadily dropping, while the purity of the drug has been increasing despite the United States’ supposedly ongoing War on Drugs, which has cost an estimated $5 billion. Says MSNBC:

See, if the government was actually winning the War on Drugs, lots of drug lords and crack slingers would be in jail, thus making cocaine harder to get. With less of a supply, the demand would go up which would allow the remaining dealers to raise their prices -- that’s economics, kids. Faced with the crunch, cokeheads would have to pay -- muthafuckas need their yay, after all.

The fact that prices have dropped, however, means the government has miserably failed in its quest to vanquish the criminal drug trade. In fact, the drug dealers have had such an easy time that they’ve streamlined their business operations and maximized profits – just like Wal-Mart – allowing them to lower prices and pass the savings on to you.

According to Peter Reuter, professor of public policy and criminology at the University of Maryland, an alternate reason for the price drop is due to cocaine’s “declining popularity.” It’s an interesting theory, though it makes you question the last time Mr. Reuter set foot in a nightclub bathroom in Boston, NY, or LA. If there is a decline, it may be due in part to the government’s compelling new Above the Influence campaign. I'll leave you with this uh, powerful image of stick-figure aliens stealing your boring tramp of a girlfriend:

Oh man, if I got to see an alien and if that alien smooth talked his way into my girlfriend's heart, my drug addiction starts... now!

I just want to be able to call up my friends and tell the story about how some smooth talking alien put the moves on my ladyfriend and she swooned.

Maybe I'm not smart enough to understand this metaphor of how doing drugs will make smooth talking aliens work their magic and steal your gf or bf. As long as they're happy with the alien I'm happy for them. Plus, I don't want to be involved with some girll who now refers to herself as "trisexual" because she's had some alien dick.

Damn this love/hate relationship with smooth talking aliens!

I love the alien cartoon.

you're a turkey!! hahaha

"Hey, doll, is this guy boring you? Why don't you talk to me instead? I'm from a different planet."

I can't possibly be a turkey. So Private, you must be the turkey.

i agree i hate cock blocking aliens. they do not help the war on drugs whatsoever.

Heh. "Rock" Bottom.

absolutely wonderful news.

I do kind of wonder what effect stuff like meth use has on cocaine use. Cocaine might actually be a bit less popular than it was; maybe there are more, and cheaper, alternatives that have become more readily available.

my cartoon dog is disappointed in me. this has affected my decision-making in incredible ways.

Precisely. As with everything, the real economic question begins with how we're defining the market and whether that market definition is valid.

I heard some hilarious stat where the war on drugs has spent 5 billion dollars getting like 2 billion dollars worth of cocaine off the street - I mean they could be more effective if the US government just bought the cocaine at street price and burned it.

That video does nothing to explain the prevalence of aliens smoking weed massively pervasive in stoner culture.

i love the alien who doesn't smoke that boring ass marijuana

i just wish that i still got stoned, because the comercial would be soooooooooo funny

MSNBC said:

Damn... those journalists need to cut out the middleman or stop buying in the bathroom at the bar after work. They're paying more for a gram than I ever paid for an 8 ball when I used to do that crap.

New newswire writer, from LA, writing about cocaine.

This is going to end in a punchline, right?

Just confirmed that for you.

Supply and Demand are independent variables, the intersection of which sets the price. If supply drops without demand dropping then, yes, the dealers could raise their prices since the equilibrium price would go up. However, if the demand for coke hasn't held constant your conclusion

is far from certain....

Maybe folks just like X more.....

gobble, gobble

Seriously.

the war on drugs is, in fact, a war on a country: colombia. money from the war on drugs is spent spraying herbicides over the country, and funding the paramilitary. it's uhh....kind of a big fucking deal. maybe do some research next time?

Lower prices equals more cocaine will be purchased by the consumer.
More purchases equal more overdoses.
More overdoses equal more deaths.
More deaths equal less addicts.
Less addicts equals less sales.
Thus running the dealer out of business.

It's the NEW strategy, and it sounds like a winner. Obviously.

"Retail cocaine prices fell by 11 percent from February 2005 to October 2006, to about $135 per gram of pure cocaine - hovering near the same levels since the early 1990s. In 1981, when the U.S. government began collecting data, a gram of cocaine fetched $600."

i don't know who the fuck was paying $600 for a gram of cocaine in 1981 but back then it never cost me more than a c-note to get my jaw grinding, relate in excruciating detail the episode in which my bicycle was stolen at nine years old by a neighborhood bully named Floyd (complete with detailed diagrams and street maps drawn on the back of overdue phone bills) become increasingly paranoid and maudlin, attempt sex with any hominid not obviously in possession of a y chromosome, wind up rubbing, cold, clammy, lifeless flesh against someone i vaguely disliked while simultaneously sweating and shivering, and then lay awake for hours, my heart exploding through my chest, wondering if their were some sort of omnipotent deity out there and, if so, if it could please kill me immediately. no matter what the cost, you just can't put a price on that kind of fun.

It's funny how the dog cartoon acknowledges that the guy has a problem. Then it suggests if we have a friend like that, we should just walk away, not help the person in any way. brilliant.

Umm... demand doesn't raise because supply goes down. Price raises because supply goes down. Supply and demand are two seperate factors factors, which, when combined, determine price.

Just a thought from a nerd.