What up brother Davis K? I think that during the cold war I read somewhere that the USA and USSR were the two countries that locked away the largest % of their population. Now its just the USA. Mandatory minimum sentencing turned even some of the most ardent drug warriors off to the drug war- sending a 18 year old to prison for 20+ years because he sold alittle crack to feed his starving family from the projects. Sending peaceful idealist hippies with sheets of acid, just making enough money to put gas in their VW Bus and make it to their next dead show up the river doing 10+ years of federal time (which I guess you have to do 80% of to be eligible of paraloebecause they ruled the blooter paper it was imprgnated in could be weighed as acid- so if you had .1 mg per hit, 100 hits would be 10 mg, then your sheet weighs say 2 oz bout 60 G- if my maths right your 10 hits become 60,000 hits in their eyes- all these constitute human rights violations and is a violation of our constitution's prohibition of cruel and unsusual punishment. Under our system the time is supposed to fit the crime.
But some genious got they idea that money could be made by privatizing prisons. How do you easily fill the prisons, at great expense to the taxpayer, whats the easy way, by filling prisons with non violent drug offenders and targeting the people in the middle and lower echelons. The prisons, LEOs, and "Kingpins" all seem to have a symbiotic relationship making sure those cells are filled. In fact before they were taken down, it was rummored the US left the Arellono-Felix Cartel of TJ alone along as they fed them small fish here and there- eliminating the competition.
In the UK I believe all the Prisons are property of the crown, thus probably less lobyists (our prison guards union has one of the strongest Lobying groups in US politics. After the recent "Tea Party revolution", the Freshman senators and congressman were sent to resorts in Maui and Kauai, 5 star hotels, wined, dined, and given seminars in procedures, an orientation session of sorts, only this was a lecture in how to govern for the Prison Guards Union special interests.
But the brits seem to be cracking down- both at the international level through counterinsurgency and crop substitution/eradication that the UK took the lead amoung US forces but it turned out that the Obama administration, unlike Bush, didn't cooperate with the worlords that move opium and finished heroin to Tajikistan, Persia (primarily) and probably Pakistan for Shipment to Norway, Switzerland, Russia and the former Republics, and the EU.
The reasons for this aren't widely known. Among many theories is a crack unit of Russian, not Tajick, crack border gaurds paid 10 times their normal salary to disuade corruptions- slowing down the Northern route, the floods disrupting the stuff transport and refining infrustructure in Pakistan (I think thats what I was told), Taliban manipulating the supply like they did in 2000. UK LEOs disrupting major big fish in Turkey and Kosovo- families that have been doing it for decades apprently. That means that given the patchwork in availability throughout Europe that different DTOs were crippled to different extents- this seems like the most plausible theory.
So if Range Rover goes out of business, it would stand to reason that maybe Lotus, known for quality autos and aircraft, might retool their production facility to produce SUVs, ect in addition to their normal line. So the question is that this drought must be known in the criminal underworld. Colombia makes cacaine and #4. The coke that gets to Europe gets their via Caribean Islands in the dutch Realm, more prominately through Africa on to spain. It gets wacked (or bashed as our cousins across the pond call it.) So the question is why don't the same DTO's cary #4 along already established routes. Compared to the reports I've been hearing, even a substantial cut of the quality that comes outta their would be a big improvement compared to what seems to be on the streets. Or how about tar- as bad a rap as it has, it has a potential to be fire and is very smokeable- I'm sure that the Sinaloa Cartel could figure out a way or other cartels given they are sophisticated enough to secure supplies of pseudo for meth- the'd find away. Smuggling is their speciality :MexExpress.
Burma- I think they might decide to grow more poppies but they might be reluctant to for the same reason as the Colombians. In Colombia the brits sent the SAS and SOCU/ special branch counternarcotics teams to train the colombians and participate in anti coke efforts. Maybe they don't want their poppy business effected. In the same way- the Shan state warlords et al are making big enough profits that don't require acres of growing crops to supply the raw material for their main money maker - YaBa (methamphetamine/cafeine pills big in SE asia, especially thailand.), without the heat of major large international countries.
The wild card is Tajikistan that apparently has poppies growing widely. The PM or president even expressed the desire to turn his country into a legitimate poppy going region for medicinal and culinary uses given the shortage of morphine on the legitimate world stage. Maybe DTOs will move across the border were their is less heat, adequate corruption most likely, and less heat and scrutiny. But these things don't happen over night. What is your theory on the reason for the drought, if and when it will end, and any other thoughts. I know from your posts in NADD that you are very knowledgeable about the dope scene in the US in particular and other parts of the world. What re your thoughts?
So when there is great demand for a product