Papaversom
SKIP THIS POST IF YOU DON'T CARE WHY THERE IS A DROUGHT OR SKIP TO MY SUMMARY IF YOU WANT A QUICK SYNOPSIS.
No worries mate...I have been accused deservidely so of being long winded lol. Your tyoical American wanker that won't shut up like I hear you guys run into on vacation. As for the bad vibes- i'm used to it, we are Americans after all, were used to being hated universally. When I was the most prolific and annoingly loquacious I was on holiday in Hawaii.
Tangent warning: Most of the American visitors from the mainland were friendly. Japanese tourists were exceptionally poilte and endearinglee friendly (though they didn't speak much English. But it might have been my bad luck, but European tourists, german in particular were exceptionaly rude which I took as an insult as they were visiting my home country (maybe they were undergoing PAWS? d/t the heroin drought)

. For all the reason (many legitimate) that Americans are hated abroad, I have found, as a surfer 3 essential rules you should follow while traveling. 1.) Show respect- your a guest in someone elses home. 2.) Don't do stupid shit and act like an ass that you wouldn't do at home (unless your in vegas or TJ- and treat the people of TJ with respect, they've been through hell. 3.) Treat others the way you would like to be treated. The Brazilians were realy friendly too.
I realize alot of Americans act like arogant assholes abroad and everyone hates our tendency to meddle in other countries bussiness- this would stop if it was up to me- But I don't make policy or vote for those that do I voted Libertarian.
Really good article:
http://antifascist-calling.blogspot.com/2008/02/welcome-to-kosovo-worlds-newest-narco.html
Kosovo, it would appear is one of the choke points- major arrests of key figures
here is the specific thread:
http://forum.opiophile.org/showthread.php?t=33196
This I posted from 1-25-11 about the albanian mob getting rolled up. Read if you interested.
Problem #2, supply and demand. When there is high demand and low supply, the price goes up, and when their isn't competition in the marketplace, dealers, who aren't usually the most principaled people will wack the supply with Bash, and pass it off at a higher price because they can- they have an inelastic good. However, the price will be volatile but hopefully there will be less users and more competitions by purveyors of stash so quality will steadly improve-which it seems to be doing, and price will steadly deacrease- but probably not to pre drought levels.
Problem# 3 KKat brought up the fact that your
serious
Organized Crime Unit or watever its called was taking undue credit and in hindsight I think she's right. They undoughtedly played a role, as did the other LEOs involved both National and a concerted international effort- by the UNODCP, INTERPOLE, Russian Border Guards in Tajikistan, Narco cops in Iran (who make 1/2 of all busts), and to a much lesser extent afganistan (apparently their isn't alot of them and the few are mostly corrupt and involved in bringing dope to the border of Iran/ Tajikistan, ect...
#4.) The strategy has changed- NATO is starting to step up narcotics interdiction.
#5.) Crop replacement efforts- their working in northern opium provinces to an extent- people are growing other crops but hidding there poppy crops in harder to detect areas, there planting less but working it more efficiently. However in the south were coloboration with NATO can be a death sentence farmers are going to the crop sunsititution centers, getting fertilizer, and chucking the replacement crop seeds- using the fertilizer for the planned opium crops.
The silver lining, because of the increased price of opium some experts predict farmers will be motivated to grow more poppies this season
#6.) The poppy blight might be due to engeneered fungi, however, the conditions it would appear weren't favorable to growth. The crop was very poor so thats another explanation. Popies need well watered but not waterloged soil at first. After that they require mosit soil. Otherwise they are suseptible to fungi. Heavy rains at the wrong time can ruin crops, especially in the spring around harvest time- by the way, though, opium is a hardy crop.
posted by
dinner: This goes in debth into the harvest, blight, and international counternarcotics, crop substitution efforts, very well written:
So in Sumary, shit H because
1.) Coordinated LEO strikes on every level, disrupting traditional smugling routes north and south, and the DTOs bringing stuff in.
2.) Too many users and not enough supply
3.) Poppy Blight/Poor harvest
4.) Crop substitution and International efforts of LEO/Military in Sowth West Asia effecting supply.
5.) The taliban is manipulating the supply of dope to increase the price they get, to fund their war against the west.
6.) Eire is bankrupt and UK is in dire financial straights, someone in the gov probably figured out that getting more drugs off the streets will lead to less arrest/ jail time/ clogged courts for simple possession thus saving money.
This is unlike the US strategy. The drug war and prison industry are big interest. If drugs were legalized or their was a drought, LEOs would start getting laid off as would prison officials. What trips me out about the UK is your gov is cracking down on drugs. I was looking in our local free paper. There was 10 pages of adds for MD (one charging $35.00 with cupon) for eval and med mj card, and there was pages of dispensaries and delivery services. In contrast to Holland which limits to dutch nationals, once you get your card, you can get your buds delivered- this pisses LEOs to no end.
We have good pills because we have plants in North America and South America that produce Safrole- necessary for MDMA. You were getting your from endangered trees in Cambodia that international police rolled up, plus mephedrone hit scene.
We have descent coke because we are close to the source- the colombians bring in decent coke- that varies from good to shit, the mexicans bring it to the West for them. More stops to cut product along the way.
So thats my in debth analysis/theories, somebody please add theories, info, sources.
Silver lining, Kyrgistan is discussing growing poppies for licit reasons using modern technology. They were listed by forbes as being the 5th most corrupt nation and their economy is in the toilet. They're are rumors of it turning into a narco state- and atleast the procedes won't be funding terrorism, and revolutions.
Burma shan states and other counter gov warlords are discussing increasing production- using more efficient extraction techniques and opium strains developed in tasmania (like poppy straw extraction)- and their is a market to fill.
Colombia is supplying coke- UK is surpasing the US as highest per capita use. The same people might see the same opportunities in the Europe in the near future that they did in the US East Coast in the 90s- which prompted them to grow poppies and get technical assistance from south east asia in a professional way. Your UK government is very involved in that part of the world at the moment, though.
Opium is a hardy crop that usually is harvested in the winter (for instance in late winter early spring)- and grows around the world even the UK. Some Johnny Poppy seed might caste the little blue/black seeds (same ones used in cooking- more expensive more likely to germinate) might cast seeds far and wide throughout europe in empty public field, woods with plenty of sun coverage, not to grow poppies of course, just get rid of bagel seeds in a biodegradeable fashion

- its a very hardy easy growing crop, kinda like a weed, not like the TLC cannabis requires.%)
The best way to get better drugs is quit illegal drugs all together- just drink the green stuff and boycott the rest. Or Like Moostadoodle says "Boycot the Bash", at the very least. NA will greatly increase your ability to do this. This is probably my longest one yet but the drought is caused by a number of factors- it is strangely not as acute in Continental Europe (unless someone here knows something different)/Canada (that gets some Afgan dope) probably because the demand isn't as high if I had to bet this is the biggest reason for market manipulation by criminal syndicates-because they can and it benefits their exploitive assess.