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The Technology Secrets of Cocaine Inc.
Business 2.0 ^ | 07/01/02 | Paul Kaihla

Posted on 07/08/2002 7:56:44 PM PDT by Djarum

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To: Zon
I can't believe you actually make that "argument". Laws against robbing banks does not cause or give incentive to a person to rob the bank. Prohibition laws that artificially inflate the price of the prohibited object is what causes or gives incentive to a person to sell the prohibited item in order to gain artificially inflated profits. Next time, before posting...

Think First!

You think.
And while you're at it, "next time, before posting..." try actually reading the post you're responding to.
I never said laws against robbing banks give incentive to rob banks. I said laws against stealing.
Of course if we were free to just take what we want from others, there would be no business for bank robbers.
Laws against stealing which artificially inflate the price of the prohibited object is what causes or gives incentive to a person to rob banks.

The idea that prohibiting some substance means gangsters can profit from illegal sale of it, and therefore those who make it illegal are responsible for the situation is an infantile argument.

Guess we should make murder legal so we don't inflate the profit of being a hit man.

21 posted on 07/08/2002 8:55:46 PM PDT by Jorge
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To: Jorge
Scary.
22 posted on 07/08/2002 9:04:41 PM PDT by Ciexyz
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To: old school
It's not as though the traffickers are unknown or the plantations hard to find. The traffickers could be assassinated and the plantations could be nuked. Simple, effective, end of story!

I wish it were that easy ;)

23 posted on 07/08/2002 9:05:20 PM PDT by general_re
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To: Djarum
Great article, bookmarked for later use.
24 posted on 07/08/2002 9:06:52 PM PDT by BOBTHENAILER
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To: Jorge; Wolfie
Jorge Salcedo Cabrera, the main IT whiz who set up the Santacruz computer, eventually became an informant against cartel bosses. The DEA declined to comment on Salcedo. But according to several intelligence officials, he is now living in America at taxpayer expense, under the witness protection program.
Is that you George? How's the digs and eats?

What a waste! Black market...insane profits.
Legal...$1.95. Illegal...$50.00.
Whole lot of "brain power" being wasted somewhere.

25 posted on 07/08/2002 9:10:00 PM PDT by philman_36
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To: shigure
There is a direct, unwilling victim in bank robbery.

Who is the direct, unwilling victim if someone wants to toot coke?

The friends and family members who get ripped off and whose lives are made miserable by the never ending travails of their strung out loved ones.
The employer whose got a crack head who doesn't show up the day after payday, whose performance is compromised..the Health Insurers and everybody who has to pick up the tab for these coke heads who are busy turning themselves into useless crispy critters...creditors who don't get paid and have to hire collection agencies...for all the automobile owners who had their windows smashed out for a quarter on their dashboard....etc. etc etc.
The victims of coke heads are endless.

26 posted on 07/08/2002 9:12:52 PM PDT by Jorge
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To: Jorge
Laws against stealing which artificially inflate the price of the prohibited object is what causes or gives incentive to a person to rob banks.
IMO you're very wrong and not very sensical. How do you figure that laws against stealing inflate the price of prohibited objects? The object being prohibited increases the price.
A person's incintive to steal would be lessened, not increased, if there were no inflated price through the item being legal. Also, many, if not most, bank robberies are not committed to purchase drugs. A mugging, convenience store hold-up or home burglary are a much easier job for the common criminal looking to buy drugs.
Across the board nonprohibited objects have been less in cost than prohibited objects.
JMO.
27 posted on 07/08/2002 9:18:55 PM PDT by philman_36
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To: Jorge
I'm not sure legalization would make all that much difference. Alcohol use didn't end with Prohibition but it didn't end with legalization either. Probably more people drink when it's legal and more money is spent on alcohol by more people, prohibition probably stops some people from using, but then it can't be taxed.
28 posted on 07/08/2002 9:19:43 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: Jorge
The victims of coke heads are endless.
Your illusional allusions are endless too. So what personal tragedy backs your stance? A relative die? A close friend's life "ruined"?
Afraid ending the WOsD will cut into the profits?
29 posted on 07/08/2002 9:22:28 PM PDT by philman_36
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To: Jorge

Jorge: Laws against stealing, a bankrobber's best friend.14

I never said laws against robbing banks give incentive to rob banks. I said laws against stealing.

Laws against stealing include laws against stealing from banks, Duh! Think First man.

The laws against stealing are irrelevant to the fact that the object would be just as valuable if there were no laws against stealing it. Now, if there are laws against a prohibited substance those laws do make the substance worth more money. Black market economics 101.

The idea that prohibiting some substance means gangsters can profit from illegal sale of it, and therefore those who make it illegal are responsible for the situation is an infantile argument.

They, the government are partially responsible and they know it. They are the facilitators. Did you never read the documentation of alcohol prohibition. No person initiated force in exchanging money for alcohol. It was an exchange among consenting adults.

Guess we should make murder legal so we don't inflate the profit of being a hit man.

It's obvious to any adult that murder is the initiation of force. Yet you, talk about being infantile! What's even scarier is you seem to have attracted a peanut-cheering gallery.

30 posted on 07/08/2002 9:24:45 PM PDT by Zon
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To: Jorge
Recovering Democrat!
You aren't recovering. Sounds like you're in remission.
31 posted on 07/08/2002 9:24:49 PM PDT by philman_36
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Comment #32 Removed by Moderator

To: Jorge
The employer whose got a crack head who doesn't show up the day after payday, whose performance is compromised..the Health Insurers and everybody who has to pick up the tab

Maybe if the government would get out of it altogether, quit providing free health care and other social services to drug users, quit giving food stamps and housing, etc, and let employees get fired by their employers if they aren't competent to do a job. The government allows people to fail by providing a safety net they never have to leave.

33 posted on 07/08/2002 9:25:28 PM PDT by FITZ
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To: Djarum
If they're moving drugs by subs some of our SSNs could get in some good practice. The only question is it worth the cost of the torpedoes to us. The Narc's tech will never be that high.
34 posted on 07/08/2002 9:33:18 PM PDT by JohnBovenmyer
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To: FITZ

The government allows people to fail by providing a safety net they never have to leave.

That's a good observation: the government facilitates failure.

It's how parasitical politicians and self-serving bureaucrats justify their unearned paychecks and usurped power.

35 posted on 07/08/2002 9:34:25 PM PDT by Zon
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To: Djarum
Thank you drug prohibition! Fools!
36 posted on 07/08/2002 9:45:16 PM PDT by Kermit
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To: JohnBovenmyer
I wouldn't care to bet on the technology level of the narcotraficantes. They have an unreal amount of money,and a whole world to buy technology from. Some of that tech that's for sale isn't as good as the stuff the Navy has,but some of it just might be in shouting distance.
37 posted on 07/08/2002 9:54:47 PM PDT by sawsalimb
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To: Jorge
The friends and family members who get ripped off and whose lives are made miserable by the never ending travails of their strung out loved ones.

... to say nothing of the friends and family of those killed or jailed in the War On (some) Drugs.

The employer whose got a crack head who doesn't show up the day after payday, whose performance is compromised...

This is a problem of truancy, not coke toking. There are people who toke but show up for work (and, do a good job) and there are those who quit work, or do shoddy work, who don't toke.

the Health Insurers and everybody who has to pick up the tab for these coke heads who are busy turning themselves into useless crispy critters...

This is a problem of insurers making no distinction between coke heads and non-coke heads. If non-tokers didn't have to pay the premiums of tokers, this objection would vanish.

creditors who don't get paid and have to hire collection agencies...

This is a problem of debtors, not tokers ... again there are tokers who pay their bills, and non-tokers who don't. Are you able to separate these issues?

for all the automobile owners who had their windows smashed out for a quarter on their dashboard...

This is a problem of burglars, not tokers. Again there are burglars who don't toke, and tokers who don't steal.

The victims of coke heads are endless.

The victims of the War On (some) Drugs are also ... and one of them is the Bill of Rights.

So, we return to the question:

Who is the direct, unwilling victim if someone wants to toot coke?

38 posted on 07/08/2002 10:03:50 PM PDT by coloradan
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To: Jorge
amen to that friend, people who favor legalizing cocaine don't have friends or relatives who've become cocaine addicts.
39 posted on 07/08/2002 11:40:43 PM PDT by Red Jones
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To: Red Jones
Prohibition does have one known effect, which is to cause the prohibited substance to appear in the most concentrated (and destructive) form possible. Hard liquor did and does not constitute nearly as large a proportion of alcohol consumption as during the alcoholic beverage prohibition era -- most people now wonder why we ever tried to ban alcohol. Cocaine usage was usually in the form of the coca leaf; prohibition brought purified cocaine and its wicked younger sister crack into its heyday. It is a safe bet that if tobacco should ever be banned, few people will bother with smuggled snuff or cigarettes, but rather with purified nicotine.

None of this is to excuse getting addicted to anything, but there is a law of unintended consequences to overzealous do-gooding.
40 posted on 07/09/2002 1:42:18 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
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