Tag Archives: drugs

Fentanyl

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El Pais has a long article that goes through the entire supply chain for Fentanyl. Basically, there is a huge demand for drugs in the United States. Because they are criminalized and highly profitable, organized crime is going to find to meet that demand. Organized crime in Mexico is going to find a way to bring the chemical precursors in, manufacture the product, and move it across the border, with extremely violent consequences. Businesspeople in China (I use the term loosely as these are also gangster-like, but the actual chemicals involved are typically not even illegal) are happy to manufacture and ship these precursors to the organized criminals in Mexico. Politicians and bureaucrats at all levels get wrapped up through bribery, threats of violence and actual violence.

synthetic cocaine?

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This article says waves of drug abuse tend to alternate between sedatives, like heroin and the current opioid wave, and stimulants, like cocaine and methamphetamine. Like opioids, people are hard at work in labs trying to create synthetic stimulants. One candidate, which according to this article is already popular in “the Middle East party scene”, is Captagon, which has effects similar to cocaine and can be as cheap as $3 per pill.

Druid app

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This app is supposed to measure cognitive impairment from alcohol, drugs, and fatigue.

Grounded in cognitive neuroscience, Druid is a breakthrough technology. It brings you a sophisticated tool that measures impairment from any cause, including cannabis and other drugs, alcohol, fatigue, illness, injury, chronic condition, or severe stress. Druid operates like a video game while it measures hundred of neurophysiological indicators.

Google Play

Seems useful for a variety of purposes. And employers could use it for a variety of legitimate purposes, such as maybe testing pilots and surgeons? People who aren’t able to do their jobs safely because they are tired or stressed shouldn’t get fired obviously, they should get to rest. You can certainly imagine employers and law enforcement using this app abusively. As for driving safely, let’s just turn that over to the computers already.

TSA doesn’t care about your weed

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Even if I were regular cannabis user (I am not, but have no moral issues with those who are unless they are driving a forklift or doing something else risky while impaired), I would not take it on a domestic flight knowing that it is still illegal under federal law. So it’s interesting that TSA has said publicly that they are not looking for it. If they happen to find it, say, because you packed it in the same bag as a weapon you were trying to smuggle on to a plane, they are just supposed to notify local police.

If the federal government really wants to, they can prosecute you as a drug trafficker even for transporting a tiny cannabis from one state where it is 100% legal to another state where it is 100% legal. The penalty for this as a first offense can be 5 years in jail and $250,000. It seems unlikely they would do this, but is a risk worth taking? If they are after you for some other reason and you happen to have committed this offense, it seems like they could use this charge as a major bargaining chip to secure your cooperation.

Now, on international flights, I really would not take it. For example, last time I went to Singapore (around a decade now) they still had that sign in baggage claim that says “death to drug dealers”. Let’s say I had a substance in my backpack in the past that was 100% legal in the time and place I purchased it, and let’s say a drug sniffing dog at a foreign airport can still detect that today. At a minimum this seems likely to increase your chances of getting searched, hassled, and having your time wasted when traveling.

What’s REALLY risky, of course, from a health perspective, is consuming a pill or other substance when you don’t know for sure exactly what it is, what the dose it, or where it came from. This alone is a reason to legalize almost everything, in my view. Then add to that all the violence that has occurred on U.S. streets and on both sides of the border to supply products that are obviously in high demand. Add in the racial biases that cause people to be treated differently. The war on drugs is just a dumb failure. Let’s end it. Legalize, tax, and make addiction and substance abuse a problem for the health care system (oh, the U.S. should really get itself one of these!)

more Philly stats

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Brookings has a report on crime in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and Seattle. Homicides are up sharply in all these cities, but the overall crime picture is more nuanced. The actual stats show that while homicide is way up, other violent crimes are up only slightly. Central business districts are generally pretty safe, with violent crime and property crime mostly happening in residential neighborhoods. Nonetheless, office workers have an impression that central business districts are less safe than before the pandemic. I share that perception. This article points out that my perception may have more to do with the visible disorder of homelessness, drug use, and just general filth on the streets and on public transit. I witness all of this daily in Philadelphia. At the same time I know that these things are for the most part not a physical threat to my person. And I always try to remind myself that the person annoying me by experiencing homelessness or drug addiction on the streets of my city is having a much worse day than I am. Brookings has a solution salad at the end of their article – politicians, please do these things.

the new drug trade

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Precursors of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other deadly, yet cheap, drugs are manufactured in places like China and shipped to Mexican drug cartels, who are happy to mix them up and move them across the U.S. border. U.S. drug dealers are buying pill presses and filling them with whatever is cheapest, then stamping them to look prescriptions drugs like Oxycontin, Xanax, Adderal. Users, some addicts, and some just looking for a party, are popping these pills and in some cases dying.

It’s a mess. I wouldn’t call it a “war”. The fundamental problem is the U.S. demand for these substances, and the secondary problem is the criminalization of these substances which creates plenty of business opportunities for criminals. The less organized ones are getting caught by law enforcement, the organized ones are making a fortune, and the customers are dying, especially the younger, less well informed, and lower income ones. The makeup of the customers/victims may look a little different than some drug waves of the past, but the story has not really changed.

cigarettes with 95% less nicotine

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According to this (paywalled) Philadelphia Inquirer article, commercially produced cigarettes sold in Pennsylvania may soon be modified to be very low in nicotine. Now, who at this point is going to inhale cancer-causing smoke for no reason? I imagine a lot of people will quit, which is the point, and others will turn to the black market or other substances. There will be some irony if former cannabis dealers turn to black market cigarettes as the more profitable option.

I think cigarettes are dumb and I am against the health impacts, annoyance they cause for everyone around, and especially the disgusting trash they produce. But are we sure it is a good idea to criminalize a drug that has been legal and popular for centuries? What’s the enforcement plan for this?

metformin and longevity

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This article says billionaires are “racing” to invest in longevity treatments. Top candidates attracting funding include various gene therapies, drugs, stem cells, and old people consuming the blood of children (seriously, this is real but presumably the children are fine). This article argues a known drug called metformin deserves more attention.

March 2022 in Review

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The Ukraine war grinds on as I write on April 7, with the Russian military seemingly pulling back from some areas while slaughtering civilians (hostages?) farther east and south. I proffered some limited views on the situation and media coverage of the war during the month, but I won’t go into it below.

Most frightening and/or depressing story: What causes violence? It’s the (prohibition and war on) drugs, stupid. Or at least, partly/mostly, the drugs.

Most hopeful story: There are meaningful things individuals can do to slow climate change, even as governments and industries do too little too late. For example, eat plants, limit driving and flying, and just replace consumer goods as they wear out. I’m mostly on board except that I think we need peace and stability for the long term survival of both our civilization and planetary ecosystem, and we are going to need to travel and get to know one another to give that a chance.

Most interesting story, that was not particularly frightening or hopeful, or perhaps was a mixture of both: Ready.gov has posted helpful information on what to do in case of a nuclear explosion.

Drug violence and the Netherlands

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A lot of the violence in the U.S. and around the U.S. border if fueled by the drug trade. With drugs illegal, there is just so much money to be made that it is worthwhile for organized crime to form, heavily arm itself and take large risks to move those drugs and make that money. South of the border, organized crime is so heavily armed it is able to intimidate the authorities. North of the border, law enforcement has become militarized and heavily armed in response. This results in a balance of power but also one of the world’s most violent countries that is also prosperous and supposedly peaceful.

That’s my view of the U.S. But is it happening elsewhere. Yes, according to Der Spiegel, in the Netherlands. This might seem surprising, because the Netherlands is known for decriminalizing soft drugs (cannabis, hashish – wait, isn’t that just a kind of cannabis? – and now apparently synthetic drugs like ecstacy.) What is left though is hard drugs, specifically cocaine. Cocaine smuggling and trading is leading to similar violence to what we see in the U.S., although on a much smaller scale. If I read the article correctly, they have around 20 drug related murders per year. That is 20 too many, but it also happens in a month in any sizable U.S. city, so there is no comparison.

I think the U.S. should legalize, regulate, and tax soft drugs right away. We should get a health care system that provides physical and mental health care to people with drug problems. But what to do about the hard drugs? I don’t know, but I still think the violence may be more evil than the drug-related social problems. Just take the market away from the criminals first and then go from there.