Netflix series "The Business of Drugs": inside the economics of America's longest war

[S.J.B.]

The Business of Drugs: inside the economics of America's longest war
Adrian Horton
The Guardian
July 14th, 2020

As a CIA analyst in Shanghai and Pakistan during America’s “war on terror”, Amaryllis Fox was familiar with drawn-out, intractable conflict. She’d studied the compounding effects of redoubling on failed policies, of redundant good versus evil arguments peddled into a quagmire, costing billions and an incalculable loss of life. But the situation in America’s longest military war, now nearing two decades, paled in comparison to the subject of Fox’s post-CIA project for Netflix: America’s costly, decades-longer engagement known as the “war on drugs”.

The Business of Drugs, a six-part series Fox hosts on Netflix, takes a clear-eyed approach to the futility of drug enforcement: what are the incentives, economic and personal, that keeps the market flow of narcotics churning despite a generational trail of violence and waste? Declared in 1971 by Richard Nixon, the “war on drugs” refers broadly to the federal government’s campaign to control psychoactive substances through draconian legislation, expansion of enforcement agencies, and military aid and intervention to other countries. Drug enforcement policies have long served as cudgels against minority groups – the first anti-opium laws, in the 1870s, targeted Chinese immigrants; anti-cannabis measures in the 1910s and 20s aimed for Mexican workers – and the current iteration grows from these roots; from mandatory minimum sentences to no-knock warrants, the “war on drugs” has fueled, in part, the mass incarceration of Americans, especially people of color. Nearly 50 years and $1tn in, the business of drug prohibition has “not only not worked, but the problem is worse than it was when the policy began”, Fox told the Guardian.

The Business of Drugs plays like a condensed, updated version of the popular National Geographic series Drugs, Inc (also on Netflix), moving from America’s voracious consumption of illicit substances to the global network of supply evading, or dwarfing, interlocking attempts at enforcement. The series’ six segments are delineated by substance – cocaine, synthetics (such as MDMA, also known as ecstasy), heroin, meth, cannabis and opioids – and explore substances of wildly varying levels of addictiveness, use and geography. Together, the chapters form a loose condemnation of prohibition as both policy and moralistic stance.

The series is not a matter of admitting defeat in the “war on drugs”, Fox said. Instead it demands “looking at the policies themselves rather than the fight to enforce them, and asking ourselves if in fact prohibition has any logical hope of working, or whether it’s a residue of a moralistic stance that I think is no longer relevant in our society”.

Like its title, The Business of Drugs aims to be straightforward, or as clear as possible on the economics – dollars by gram, price increases by mile of transport – in shadowy systems for which transparency is a risk. Each episode visits a different “hotspot” epitomizing the challenges, market and opportunity for positive change for each substance. For cocaine, Fox traces the bloody trail of the west’s habit from the plant’s cultivation in Colombia (a no-brainer for farmers, given the yield and influence of cartels), through Mexican smuggling routes, over the border to America’s draconian incarceration system for possession. Synthetics presents the therapy potential of MDMA, particularly for PTSD, if declassification from schedule 1, the highest classification for drugs of allegedly no medical benefit, would permit serious research. For heroin, Fox visits the ports of Kenya, where the route for smuggling the drug produced largely from opium poppies in Afghanistan has proliferated into an economic boon for some and devastating addiction epidemic for others.

Read the full story here.

 

[neversickanymore]

Same truths many of us on BL have been posting for many years. I'm only two episodes in as of now, but so far its right on.

 

[neversickanymore]

Really good,, MAPS is promoted and the value of harm reduction is recognized. Conclusions as far as episode three are spot on imho. Through episode 3.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I enjoyed the ones I watched. Skipped heroin and weed as too depressing just like I do in real life though. Was impressed by how far into the drug organisations they got as well as how reasonably they pointed out the damage caused by the Drug War. The cocaine episode was the best and most comprehensive I thought. Was a bit disappointed in the meth episode though - while it was an enlightening documentary about Myanmar/Thailand and the scourge of Yaba I thought they could have covered how crystals from the Burmese jungle get all the way into my Australian head a bit more comprehensively. The other thing that was missing was any analysis about the Chinese supply of precursors for everything.

Curiously I just recently got offered Yaba pills in AUstralia so maybe it was closer to home than I thought.

 

[Flynnal]

Australia really is about to take it up the arse with regards to drugs.

The supply lines are disappearing. Slowly.

All this COVID19 stuff is going to bring about a lot of changes to Australia, both pleasant and unpleasant. But the unpleasant stuff will come first, the pleasant stuff will happen after an incredibly painful adjustment period that could last quite some time.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Australia really is about to take it up the arse with regards to drugs.

The supply lines are disappearing. Slowly.

All this COVID19 stuff is going to bring about a lot of changes to Australia, both pleasant and unpleasant. But the unpleasant stuff will come first, the pleasant stuff will happen after an incredibly painful adjustment period that could last quite some time.

What you say is true. I’ve seen supply really contract in Sydney - well actually I’ve seen lots of people who sold reasonable stuff either disappear or start cutting their stuff to shit. This applies to both fast and slow drugs. From what I’ve read and heard, production in SEAsia is still at normal levels, so there are huge stockpiles growing there. Once trade and travel links reopen I think we will benefit from a veritable flooding of the market. Quality will be great and prices will bottom out. But whether that is six months or six years away nobody can tell.

The other good thing is it is now a lot clearer who is a real player with good connections to wholesale suppliers and who is a nickel and dime wanna be. Although prices are rising rapidly I’ve noticed the quality of some suppliers is as good or better than before COVID. In the meantime the poor bastards I know who are unemployed fully addicted daily users are suffering greatly but a few of them are saying that this enforced abstinence might be the thing that ultimately saves them. Lots of people will be cleaner post-COVID than they were pre-COVID.

Hello.

Yaba pills. That was the name I couldn't remember in my post yesterday. Thanks. And yes: that was my point above i.e. nothing about Crystal Meth at all which was kind of disappointing. And also agreed about the Chinese RCs.

Oddly enough I also didn't bother with one of the episodes i.e. the one on Weed but for different reasons. It's legal here and Weed has never been of any interest to me so I skipped it the absolute irony being is that it's the one thing I can get my hands on with little to no effort. I just have no idea what the export market is worth (so yeh: maybe I should watch it today i.e. got fuck all else to do let's face it).

Of real great interest to me was the money distribution chain (those little hourglass type things that she used to show the money flows). Found it ironical that at source: the cost of Cocaine per kilo is relatively cheap (and as I understand it even cheaper to the locals). It (cost) all starts adding up big time after it's been made because of transport, security, bribery and corruption, you get the picture. Fuck me: at the cost of a kilo of (pure I might add) Coke in South America vs. what that's worth on the street (even if you did NOT step on it) is unbelievable. Geez. I only have to do that about ten times and I'd have my life back and thousands of extremely happy customers! Lol!

But I suppose her message really was the more important. I've always believed that this whole was on drugs is a waste of time and a waste of very big money. Legalize the lot, tax it, and use that money to educate people against drug use, and use it to set up good and proper rehab. facilities to take care of those that gone down the rabbit hole and have come to regret it. I'm no conspiracy theorist but I cannot help but wonder if there's something more to all of this. I mean to say: this is not rocket science. And while I don't consider myself a genius I'm by no means an idiot either. If even I can see that they're spending billions on a war that they are never going to win but will continue to do so well then could it be that money being made, and paid to "whoever", by far exceeds to cost of the said war on drugs. Possible? No idea.

Otherwise, Fuck it. Maybe I just move to Peru or Bolivia! Lol!

Hi. Yep the money part of it is fascinating. When I lived in Southeast Asia you could see the money flows almost in how cops and military officers with tiny salaries flaunted their wealth. Living in huge houses and driving expensive European cars. Corruption was endemic and everyone knew it was safe to be in certain nightclubs because they were army- or police-owned. Meanwhile they were executing low level couriers left right and centre.

Before it bankrupted me I had an IV coke habit and right at the end of it I was down to about $5,000 total assets and completely strung out. In a fit of mania and probably psychosis I went directly from a nightclub to the airport and cashed in my frequent flyer points for a ticket to Columbia imagining that I could buy a kilo there purely for personal consumption and live the life there for the foreseeable future on my $5k. No interest in being a dealer - just totally fiending to the point it consumed my every waking thought. Fortunately someone very close to me knew what I was trying and turned up to the airport and enlisted the police to talk me out of my plan (they told the police I had major mental health issues and drugs were not mentioned). The police had no power to stop me, but between them and my friend they gently talked me down and convinced me to go to hospital. My first rehab!

 

[Jabberwocky]

That's a lovely story, thank you for sharing it, and glad for you that it worked out that way.

Unfortunately my take is a little bit different on stuff like this though to be honest (getting really deep here now! Lol!). There is such a thing as quality of life i.e. living just for the sake of it isn't life. Speaking for myself: what's worse? Sitting under a true in Peru in the bright sunshine with your head buried in a kilo of Cocaine or facing a life on the streets of Johannesburg with no income, no food, no hope in hell of finding a job, and well, you get the picture. Thanks to circumstance (which COVID has exacerbated beyond belief) I'm faced with the latter soon enough if I don't make a plan and quick too. And as things stand now: Peru is looking like the more likely option! Lol! If nothing else I made myself a promise: if I'm going to leave this planet I for damn sure and going to be pissed up and drugged up at the tme! Lol! Why not. I deserve it. Playing by the rules hasn't gotten me anywhere.

Anyway. Enough self serving bullshit from me! Lol!

I'm pleased things worked out for you on that occasion. I really and sincerely do hope that things got better and not worse from that point for you.

Thanks. I’m glad my story resonated. I’ve been all over BL today thanks to being stimulated and am starting to worry I’m over sharing! Fortunately it ended well. Rehab taught me a huge amount and I learned a lot about being psychologically healthy and avoiding full-blown addiction. Even though the coke thing bankrupted me and cost me my job and marriage I amazingly got paid out by a huge disability policy my company had on me (addiction considered grounds for disability payout) so I ended up with more money than I started with (thanks ironically to drugs) and sensibly got help locking it away in investments I couldn’t just cash in when I started fiending again (I did keep a little bit of it to take a drug and art holiday in France for a month to be honest and almost slipped back into addiction but knew enough from rehab to get a grip at the last minute)

I think your philosophy is a good one. I don’t particularly like living in Australia and want to go live in a tropical country in Asia as soon as COVID passes. I have worked hard and reckon I should enjoy a hedonistic but affordable lifestyle of beautiful women, beautiful house and delicious food while I am still young enough to make the most of it. No offence to your country, but unless I was really rich I’m pretty sure I’d want to get out of Africa as well.

There are a couple of BL members who live in South America - maybe Peru, I’m not sure. Man, the stories they post make it sounds like a wonderland for someone with an enthusiasm for the drug fuelled good life. @jose ribas da silva and @nznity are in that part of the world I think. The only thing is you’ll need to have some element of self-control if your stay there is going to last longer than a week!

 

[Viraldrome]

It was available here in South Africa on Tuesday, 14th. Have not started watching yet though. We have six available episodes to watch though (as of this morning i.e. Saturday morning

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Oh well. Watched all the episodes last night. Excellent and well made. I was a bit surprised that she spent no time investigating and documenting the CRYSTAL Meth. route (just those red pills being produced mainly in Myanmar).

I laughed when the militia/warlord guy said their group didn't make the pills. They chat and he mentions the precursors come in giant drums, the journalist is like oh like the one we are sitting on right now, he just starts laughing.

 

[albatross]

I was expecting a redundant doc that would annoy me due to lack of information but I was pleasantly suprised. The pharmacology discussed is really dumbed down and there are moments of inaccuracy but the general attitude towards drug legalization was welcome.