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NEWS : 16.03.10 - Drug prices make Australia 'a haven'

kingpin007

kingpin007

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Drug prices make Australia 'a haven'

PAUL OSBORNE
March 16, 2010 - 2:54PM

Crime bosses are turning to the internet to cash in on premium prices for illicit drugs in Australia, a new intelligence report says.

Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) on Tuesday released its latest illicit drug market assessment, five years on from its last report.

"Australia continues to be one of the most expensive illicit drug markets in the world," the report says.

Retail methylamphetamine prices are about 10 times those in South East Asia, while the price of ecstasy is the highest in the world.

And with cannabis fetching more than in other countries, many users are turning to organised criminals on the internet.

"The potential profit margins for relatively small quantities of illicit drugs in the Australian market provide a substantial financial incentive for organised criminal groups, particularly those with strong international connections, to supply the market," the CMC reports.

"On the other hand the Australian market is small relative to most overseas markets and strong border control policies are a disincentive for some groups.

"However, while there continues to be significant price disparity ... the motivation for organised criminal groups to exploit it remains."

It says social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter are being exploited by criminals keen on building markets in Australia.

"Organised criminal groups dealing at the importation or production and wholesale levels of the market can exploit social networks while remaining substantially insulated from law enforcement detection at the retail level," the report says.

"The use of alternative methods of communication by technologically savvy young people, evidenced by the rapid expansion of social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, also enables relatively efficient and anonymous communication within social networks to facilitate illicit drug transactions."

On the flipside, police can use websites to warn people of penalties and the health consequences of drug use, as well as monitor trends.

The CMC says Vietnamese and Romanian criminal groups are the dominant distributors of heroin, with Customs seizures rising slightly from 2005 to 2008.

The ecstasy market - including pills merely marketed as ecstasy - has seen the most significant growth, with the cocaine market also expanding.

There has been a rise in organised criminals dealing in more than one type of drug to attract a broader client base, the report says.

While small amounts of counterfeit medicines have been found in Australia, the problem is unlikely to be as great in countries such as Indonesia, China and India, the CMC says.
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http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/drug-prices-make-australia-a-haven-20100316-qbsd.html
 
Thanks for that Kingpin, we've missed you around here lately.

This sentence is definitely interesting:

On the flipside, police can use websites to warn people of penalties and the health consequences of drug use, as well as monitor trends.
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I don't recall ever being warned of penalties by the police?
 
tr3jo said:
Lol i must admit its pretty fucken true ay. Some of the prices you have to pay for drugs can be ridiculous. And as soon as you go outside of Aus and buy drugs you just feel stupid for ever paying such [***] rates in Australia...
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That's not cool man, edit the racist crap out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The ecstasy market - including pills merely marketed as ecstasy - has seen the most significant growth, with the cocaine market also expanding.
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...what goes up, must come down....

and yes, we're all stooges for paying what we do pay, through the orifice :|

if money makes the world go round, drugs are virtually its axis 8)
 
seems like everything bad thats goes on is because of "facebook and twitter"

lol what a joke, i highly doubt anyone with half a brain does transactions on either of those sites, especially wholesale transactions.

Seems more like a push to control internet or freely eves drop everyone for "our protection".
 
By legal highs do you mean chemicals that are not yet illegal?
Thats understandable. The article speaks of E, coke and smack though.

:?
 
acidprime said:
By legal highs do you mean chemicals that are not yet illegal?
Thats understandable. The article speaks of E, coke and smack though.

:?
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They all have their fronts; quasi legal products, (Spice, bath salts etc), that get the customers attention. When you email them they tell you what else they have for sale. I don't know about E coke and smack as you would have to get to know them pretty well but some sell Salvia and Kratom herb in Australia.
 
We continue to assess the Queensland methylamphetamine market as a VERY HIGH1 risk, but assess that the risk is DECREASING. This is based on a downgrading of our assessment of the capability of organised criminal groups to reliably source pseudoephedrine and other precursors, because of effective efforts at market regulation.
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lol - market regulation = an average of twice-weekly busts across the nation in 08-09? :!
 
At the risk of stating the obvious, If govermenments legalised, regulated and controlled these markets as opposed to organised crime controlling the drug industry we would not be facing this issue.
 
I’m not for one second implying that we open the floodgates and legalise everything. Regulation is exactly that, we regulate drugs. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best of the bad options!
Oh and I did read the thread on Cycles of use etc ..... interesting.

Taken from, The Australian Crime Commission
http://www.crimecommission.gov.au/media/faq/illicit_drugs.htm
Quote “Organised criminal groups employ a range of strategies to deliberately manipulate their control over illicit drug markets or to enter new drug markets. This may include aggressive marketing through undercut or reduced prices, or agreements between major players to set prices. However, as with legitimate business markets, external factors are also known to play a role in illicit drug pricing. Drug availability, economic conditions and perceived market placement all influence drug pricing. The involvement by organised crime in setting drug prices is likely to vary according to individual group dynamics, drug availability and the extent to which organised criminal groups control individual illicit drug markets”.

So my question still stands, “Why allow organised crime to control the availability, quality and effectively illicit drug markets?”

If you want to read a really interesting argument regarding Prohibition in Australia I suggest you read: The Cost of Drug Prohibition in Australia: Dr John Jiggens. It has some really interesting stats on drug prices in Australia and how they correlate to prohibition.
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...ttd&zw&sig=AHIEtbQs8p1YVAnp4LLdVhDAjSKRQKZi8Q
 
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