Oh boy, here's an econ story we need. Europe is good at nursing homes, museums, old buildings, porn aaaaaand... cocaine!! #1520959 #1495638, #1006594

"In the battle for the seas, drug traffickers are often coming out on top — making Europe, in the words of the UN, the new “primary destination” for cocaine.""In the battle for the seas, drug traffickers are often coming out on top — making Europe, in the words of the UN, the new “primary destination” for cocaine."

Markets working, eh?

The drug, once the preserve of rich European partygoers, has gone mainstream, with street prices falling by an average of 18 per cent between 2014 and 2024 while the products sold became 44 per cent purer, according to the EU’s drugs agency.

Prices down, quality up. They're doing a better job than the ECB, it seems. #1534273

The scale of the problem is vast. Cocaine production in Latin America has quadrupled in the past decade, with criminal networks in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia exploiting global trade routes to shift vast quantities of the drug. Cocaine is also increasingly shipped from Brazil into Europe via west Africa. The UN warns that supply could soon exceed demand, increasing traffickers’ incentives to dump even more product on to Europe’s streets.

Yes, good. That's progress. MAKE MORE OF THE SCARCE THINGS THE PEOPLE WANT.

"Lower prices and frictionless dealing on popular encrypted messaging apps have made cocaine more attainable.""Lower prices and frictionless dealing on popular encrypted messaging apps have made cocaine more attainable."

history class:

Cocaine smuggling to Europe began in earnest in the 1980s when Colombian cartels sought to diversify from a saturated US market. At first, traffickers used yachts and motorboats. But from the 1990s surging volumes led them to use containers transporting goods such as fruit as well as ever more innovative methods, including dispatching “narco-submarines” direct to Europe.
Smugglers mix cocaine powder with other materials such as food, plastics, textiles, cardboard and even cowhides to disguise it for transport before extracting it in clandestine chemical labs later on. One technique involves chemically altering the drug and spraying it on to charcoal.

Cleverzz, cleverz:

But, as security at the big ports is stepped up, criminal groups are turning to GPS and satellite-enabled deliveries in the middle of the Atlantic as an alternative. These at-sea drop-offs can involve fishing boats or large merchant “mother ships” carrying legitimate cargo unloading to smaller “daughter ships”. Sometimes low-value cargo, such as second-hand tractors, is used to put a veneer of legitimacy on what is really a drug shipment.

Very tragic... I wonder, maybe -- and I'm just thinking out loud here -- don't...?

"“We’re losing the battle, unfortunately.”""“We’re losing the battle, unfortunately.”"

As always, the twitteratis have it right.

archive: https://archive.md/2v6WQ