I don't know guys. One would think that they Mexi's have the technical expertise to produce #4 with their meth superlabs and all. But I have a theory that producers produce a product that the user is used to. Examples are captagon (a congener of dexedine and theophiline used in the middle east) and Yaba (Meth and Caffeine used in Thailand or Cambodia were it is called YaMa). Both are always produced in pill form. Come to think of it so is mandrax used in South Africa and Nambia to a lesser extent. This comes as large pills or buttons as there called. People do not swallow it- typically its smoked in a special type of pipe- started a methaqualone thread a few years back that has link to a video of madrax addicts smoking it. Anyway its stlii formulated with benadryl (though the rationale makes sense because diphenhydramine increases the bioavailabilty of methaqualone not sure if its is as readily vaporizable- mandrax has to be sprikled on a special preparation called majat I think.)
However, labs in Bulgaria and Turkey often due just produce the amphetamine and don't bother with the theophylline. Yaba is produced in Burma- but why waste time sourcing caffeine when it wouldn't really augments Yaba's effects? Mandrax was produced in India in illicit labs but now production of this drug which isn't as widely used, its epicenter being west cape, Now it is produced in labs in countries like Tanzania, Madagascar, South Africa itself, but the precursors, I believe, still come from India. The abuse of this drug has been droping being replaced by tik (meth). In South Africa, in contrast to Manhattan, methaqualone is very much a ghetto drug.
Plus tar is smokeable without having to add caffeine.
Anyway, had root canal today so flying off the sub that I used for pain management plus my Rx klonopin plus cimetidine which I use for GI prophylaxis (wink, wink) so hopefully my post makes sense- kinda seeing double.
At any rate Bill, I have only a cursory knowledge of the open air in TJ. The pharmacies I know better.
I was discussing the scene down there with my friend. He has been clean for over 40 days but had been going there for years, multiple times a week. When I was strung out all my hooking up of stuff and white was done on this side of the border. My last connection let me come to his apartement (which was across the street from a police substation...lol.) However, before him, with one exception in EPA that I used to go to when living in the Bay Area several years ago- always had to wait, sometimes hours sick and one old connect if he or one of his runners hadn't left would always claim to be "23 or 27 minutos away- the fact that they or his girlfriend would give a random precise number and they would typically be habitually hours late always cracked me up ( after I got right). Anyway, the point of my long post is that users, especially young ones got sick of waiting for the connect- in TJ you can go and score immediately- which made all the formidable obstacles worth it... at least you know the when instead of being totally helpless, stuck at home so you don't miss the connect.
Anyway, he said the quality typically sucked. He hooked up at a restaurant that i have heard of before. According to him the "18th street" boys run the dope at the retail level. My guess is that they are allied with AFO- the TJ cartel, as opposed to Guzman's Sinaloa cartel which I have heard had been establishing networks in the south county on this side of the border. The news documented that they had hooked up a San Diego Chaledonian DTO which was bringing and distributing dope to detroit. The weird thing is that the closest this ethic group historically came to dealing drugs was owning liquor stores.
At any rate, one could theoretically hook up, no problem, on demad, provided that there are no complications and apparently there are many. The TJ municipal police doesn't care and immunity from criminal justice is typically available at a reasonable price. Typically the local cops ignore or sometimes guard the drug spots be they a bar or the back door of a pharmacy. In Mexico, corruption is systemic.
Now, the army goes on frequent patrols. My friend said that when that happened deals would stop for the duration which was annoying, particularly when one is dope sick with the "malias". TJ is a war zone like afganistan or Iraq. The police, aparently are deployed at various checkpoints adding a sense of surrealness. The worst I hear are the Marinas- The Mexican marines. They have a reputation of resistance to corruption and zelousness- my friend said that whem they show up it really sucks.
So product wise, you would think the product would be fire and consistent. But apparently there is alot of variability. Usually, my friend said it was pretty bad but he has had suprises from time to time of really fire black or white. Beacause he was such a good customer, he told me they would send someone to escort him back to the border were he would walk across. This dude was provided free of charge because he was such a good cutomer. And the few times he got shaken down by the locals he had a name he could drop which would get him out of trouble w/o the typical bribe. Again, the military, particularly the marines is a different story. Why they are not focusing there efforts on the cartels and the violence....well this is mexico- US nationals are safe targets or more accurately. victims.
TJ also has pharmacies, lots of pharmacies with lots of narcotics. Most require Rxs which are simple to obtain. Others, which I wont mention sell just about anything without an Rx. TJ also has specialized animal pharmacies. They were traditionally sources of ketamine but they cracked down years ago. They were also a source for the top shelf sedative, nembutal. However, "death tourists" people presumably with a terminal Dx that would fly to TJ to obtain a lethal dose ruined it for any potential recreational users. The story made the NY times and the pharmacists, in a country were most are catholic, the thought of their product was being used in sucides apparently caused vast voluntary compliace. A pity, never tried Nembutal, but seconal I have tried several times.... and it was grrrreeeaaattt!!!
Now there is another potential danger- abduction. In the interst of harm reduction I feel I have to share this, many would ask the taxi drivers where to go to hook up. I met a guy at an AA meeting several years ago went up to a driver and next thing you know he found himself on the wrong end of a glock barrel. He was delivered to his captors. His captors called his family and tried to extort $10,000 to let him go. While the negotiations were taking place, the guy gaurding him, in a stuffy hot garage was apparently nice and smokimg tweak with him which helps with the dope sickness from my experience for a few minutes or hours but I always felt alot sicker when comming down than I would have if i didn't smoke it to begin with but at any rate. The guys family were sick of his shit and done with him. They (the family) wouldn't cave. Finally the abductors settled for $500 and the abductors let the dude go but stole his pasport and his money. Cant remember if they gave the wallet sans money back but this guy was hating life. Anyway, he decided to kick after that so anyway, tourists beware.
Another facet of the scene down there, the red light district (which I won't nameor give the location per BL rules.) I had a friend that would go down there to get hookers. At one place, the girl would bring him a pipe full of tweak and even light it for him- free of charge part of a package deal- and then they would get down (as the viagra he obtained at the pharmacia to prevent "crystal dick" kicked in. He smoked the pipe, she smoked the pipe, she smoked his pole and then it was on.
But be aware and this has been emphasized to me repeatedly, this is a dangerous place and rip offs and muggings of all types are common. Another friend related that you should never use your ATM card down there. Anyway more caveats in the name of harm reduction- too many to list, this is already a long post.
Several years ago I spoke with this dude after legislation was passed decrminalizing possession and was curious of it effect on the scene. A friend told me that, "in the titty bars we used to do body shots of tequila, now we snort coke off the chick's tits with the cops kicking it outside." Have no idea if this is still the case today.
So from what I understand, coke, heroin, and crystal are readily available according to first hand accounts. Anecdotally and from media sources, crack, PCP, weed, and to a much lersser extent, drugs like acid and E can also be found. Lets not forget pharmaceuticals, don't know about Rx stims like dexedrine/adderal (probably cartels don't want competition with meth8)) for sure opiates and benzos including rohypnol last I checked.
Now back to the discussion of what type of heroin is produced. Its still tar- the crap that isn't refined to morhine base prior to acetylation which often involves glacial acetic acid in lieu of AA. One would think that the cartels with all their resources could hire the chair of the O-Chem department of one of the countries major Universities and set him up in a lab al la breaking bad utilizimg the "lead or silver" incentive program. However, there is evidence uncovered by the wikileaks organizations that there have been high level agreements between the major cartels and the governments of the USA and Mexico. Who knows, maybe they include what and how much these oraganizations produce including how much is seized.
These cartels could diversify their product base. and produce and/or reintroduce drugs like methaqualone, preludin, MDxx (usurping the market share from Canadian DTOs), DMT, ect.... and use southern CA as a test market for their products. But people like guzman probably don't read bluelight and who knows how constrained they by whatever goes on behind the scenes.
What the cartels need is a bluelighter as a consultant... a sort of Narco sommelier.
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