By any rational assessment drug-taking by humans is at endemic and epidemic proportions. In the USA alone, over 70,000 individuals died prematurely from drug misuse in 2017, up 10% from the previous year. One might even speculate this is hardly accidental. This scene of carnage represents a multi-trillion dollar industry both to supply and its consequences. The illicit money is coming and going somewhere. Government policies clearly haven't worked and may even have exacerbated the crisis. Time they and we faced up to the awful realities and did something about it with a completely new approach.
PHOTO: The smugglers' plans came unstuck when their yacht hit a reef and ran aground in the Abrolhos Islands off Geraldton. (Supplied: WA Police)
Australian Haul
On the 2nd September, 2019 a yacht named 'Zero', hit a reef and ran aground in the Abrolhos Islands off the Mid West coast of Australia, north of Perth. It prompted a rescue operation which uncovered a startling find. On board and partly hidden on a nearby Burton Island was over a ton of illegal drugs with a street value of more than a billion dollars!
Two foreign nationals sailing the boat - a 51-year-old French national and a 34-year-old English man - having been arrested, are now facing court charges of attempting to smuggle more than a ton of cocaine and ecstasy into Western Australia.
Australian Haul
On the 2nd September, 2019 a yacht named 'Zero', hit a reef and ran aground in the Abrolhos Islands off the Mid West coast of Australia, north of Perth. It prompted a rescue operation which uncovered a startling find. On board and partly hidden on a nearby Burton Island was over a ton of illegal drugs with a street value of more than a billion dollars!
Two foreign nationals sailing the boat - a 51-year-old French national and a 34-year-old English man - having been arrested, are now facing court charges of attempting to smuggle more than a ton of cocaine and ecstasy into Western Australia.
Police said the drugs, totalling more than 1,000 kilograms, were found packed in 40 bags, and had an estimated street value of more than $1 billion.
Police claim they attempted to hide the 40 bags of drugs under seaweed.
I use this recent event to illustrate a point: this is just one small yacht of probably thousands sailing the oceans with cargo, that if it were not for a navigational error, would in all probability have gone undetected and landed its cargo. It was worth more than a billion dollars to someone. A billion dollar cargo in just one small yacht! What does that say about the value of a global trade which is both illegal and unaccounted for, let alone the dire social consequences of a drug addicted population?
Cornwall
From the other side of the world five men were convicted of trying to import 1.4 tonnes of cocaine – with a street value of £112million - in a prosecution by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in March, 2019. It was hidden in a 60ft sailing yacht escorted into Newlyn harbour
From the other side of the world five men were convicted of trying to import 1.4 tonnes of cocaine – with a street value of £112million - in a prosecution by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in March, 2019. It was hidden in a 60ft sailing yacht escorted into Newlyn harbour
UK nationals Nigel Clark (64), and Dean Waters (59), who had been residing in Estepona, Spain, as well as Raymond Dijkstra (27), from the Netherlands, were found guilty at Bristol Crown Court following a five week trial. Estonian Richard Must (49) and Latvian Voldermars Gailis (21) pleaded guilty to all charges at an earlier hearing.
NCA Deputy Director Matt Horne said the huge haul was the result of a 'complex' operation. HMC Vigilant intercepted the yacht, SY Nomad, on 29th August 2018 as it was sailing towards the UK.
In July 2018 a Dutch registered yacht 'Marcia' was escorted into Newlyn harbour by UK Border Force. The man in charge of it was later cleared of helping to smuggle two tonnes of cocaine with a street value of £130m into Cornwall. The jury believed Dutchman Emile Schoemaker was not told about the drugs onboard and knew nothing of the smuggling plot, his trial at Bristol Crown Court. The boat's owner, Maarten Pieterse, previously admitted smuggling charges and will be sentenced in August. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-48773850
These are just three examples of recent cases that illustrate a hugely lucrative trade in illegal drugs. It would be naive to think that this is not other than the tip of the iceberg and a small fraction of what is actually landed via this route. Of course there are many more that go undetected by land, sea and air, sometimes about or inside the bodies of so-called 'drug mules'.
Drugs a multi-billion global industry.
The value of this trade to those behind it is truly eye watering. The cost to society, socially and economically is equally so, yet governments, worldwide, appear unable to stop or dent what appears to be an inexorable rise in the personal human consumption of drugs of one sort or another.
Ineffective criminal controls
Police raids, the capture of smugglers as described above, fines, prisons, even in some countries capital punishment (it is said that three quarters of Iran's 300 executions a year are for drug smuggling) appear to have little effect to stem the tide.
Yet Governments, with only a few exceptions, maintain a policy of criminalisation and ostensible opposition that is ineffective and some would argue actually exacerbates the evils associated with it.
Taking just one country, the United Kingdom, for an example, the Home Office estimates the illegal drugs market is worth over five billion GBPs.
In addition the costs to society from crime, disruption and health treatment, have been estimated by the National Crime Agency at almost twelve billion GBPs.
As with all estimates they may understate the financial implications and certainly take no account of such things as family breakdown and loss of economic productivity. Twenty billions happens to be the amount of tax payer's money the government has pledged to the National Health Service. What proportion of police time and resources is taken up with drug related incidents, almost invariably directed at the 'low lying fruit'? How often do we hear of so called 'Drug Lords' being brought to book?
Part of a bigger picture
Nor should we overlook the fact that illegal drugs is just a small part of drug-related human behaviour. It is comforting to divide drugs into the legal and illegal varieties, the former to treat disease conditions, the latter unnecessary and dangerous but this will simply not do. Alcohol and nicotine are both legally available though obviously dangerous and problematic to a greater or lesser extent. Literally tons of drugs are issued via the medical profession and prescription. For example seventy million prescriptions were issued last year for anti-depressants alone, each for a week or longer. That's one prescription and multiple tablets for every resident in the country!
Addiction: a human failing
The only conclusion to be drawn from all this is that a sizable proportion of the population is addicted to drugs of one sort or another and that it is the rule rather than the exception. Humans are obviously possessed of inherently addictive and obsessive personalities. The sooner we realise this and address the fact the better. Drugs are taken across the board to relieve suffering and pain whether physical or mental. The fact that in the end they invariably cause more, does not seem to deter their application.
A new approach required
This fact alone requires a change in the way we approach the subject and our perception of it. There is no doubt it requires a fundamental philosophical change to the way drugs, both legal and illegal are viewed and treated. We also need to do some profound soul-searching as to why so many humans see the need for chemical substances in order to cope with life. What sort of world have humans created that so necessitates such reliance on drugs and how might this be reversed?
Because the drugs trade is illegal and insanely profitable, it cannot be stopped even with draconian measures. Humans are prepared to take insane risks where either physical addiction or the likelihood of riches impels. It also corrupts all other elements of society. Banks have turned a blind eye to where the cash has come from as do those who deal in property and expensive goods. Enforcement agencies are beguiled and bought off with bribes and once compromised are at the mercy of criminal manipulation through blackmail. The public of course is generally kept in the dark and is unaware as to the extent of the problem.
A reality check
The convicted, but now reformed, drug supplier, followed by many thousands, does an important service by interviewing those directly involved on both sides of the drugs trade as well as those with experience of the criminal underworld including his own.
In his conversation with Neil Woods, an ex-undercover cop in the UK employed to identify drug networks, it is clear that although well-intentioned, police operations are actually ineffective and counterproductive. Not only did the arrest of a network of dealers immediately lead to another gang filling the breach but also led, he found, to increased violence.
This resulted from resulting turf wars and to the more incipient need not to be 'snitched' on when arrested. If names had to be provided to mitigate the sentence later incurred, those with a less violent reputation would be the ones to choose to avoid violent repercussions. Dealers knew the more violent they were, the safer they became. See: http://veaterecosan.blogspot.com/2019/10/drugs-biggest-goldrush-in-world-and-its.html
Drug related crime
Much of the recent spike in youth murders is gang and drug related, as is the wave of shop lifting and theft necessary to support life in absence of regular income and to sustain a costly drug habit. Women are either forced into prostitution to pay for the habit or are intentionally turned into addicts by their pimps. London and other big cities provide the model for the rest of the country as the pernicious trade extends. Unemployment, homelessness, educational failure, family breakdown, child abuse, urban and industrial decay all provide fertile ground for addiction.
Solutions?
So what is 'Government', to do about this issue that causes untold harm to the individual and society?
First it needs to admit its penal approach to drug-taking is misguided and totally ineffective. In truth it knows this to be the case but is politically terrified of taking a different approach. Although widespread, drug taking is widely regarded with disdain as are those who engage in it. They have little influence on decision makers. If anyone is to be targeted it needs to be those at the top of the pyramid not those at the bottom, although for the reasons already stated, it is doubtful this will set back the trade for long.
The government therefore needs to update its understanding to drugs in general and dispense with the outdated and unhelpful classification of socially acceptable and unacceptable. Let's just accept that all drugs have both benefits and dangers and treat them all with uniform circumspection and control. It must be absurd to criminalise Cannabis, particularly when it has proven medicinal applications, just because of historic irrational fears and baggage. The criminalisation and incarceration of a generation of users, is nothing short of criminal itself.
The British Parliament has consistently refused to initiate a comprehensive review of drug legislation and activity. With so many dying and being adversely affected this unforgivable. Is the explanation political cowardice, negligence or something more sinister? After all who really does benefit from the this multi-billion pound industry? And who benefits from not treating it rationally?
Addiction to chemical substances, be it nicotine or alcohol, prescription drugs or currently illegal drugs, is a medical and social issue not a criminal one. Maybe we need to question why supplying the latter ones incurs fines and imprisonment, whilst the former results in Knighthoods and large pay-packets?
Why should society not benefit in tax, from the production and sale of cannabis as it does from tobacco? Why should the dangers of drugs of all kinds be properly communicated with the necessary support and advice services. Would it not be preferable to spend on these what we currently expend on police and lawyers?
Perhaps what is needed is a government department devoted solely to drugs in all their forms, the addictions and problems that go with them. In the meantime political class and government needs to appoint a committee of enquiry with broad terms of reference without further delay and GET A GRIP on what is a majot threat to individuals and society alike!
These are just three examples of recent cases that illustrate a hugely lucrative trade in illegal drugs. It would be naive to think that this is not other than the tip of the iceberg and a small fraction of what is actually landed via this route. Of course there are many more that go undetected by land, sea and air, sometimes about or inside the bodies of so-called 'drug mules'.
Drugs a multi-billion global industry.
The value of this trade to those behind it is truly eye watering. The cost to society, socially and economically is equally so, yet governments, worldwide, appear unable to stop or dent what appears to be an inexorable rise in the personal human consumption of drugs of one sort or another.
Ineffective criminal controls
Police raids, the capture of smugglers as described above, fines, prisons, even in some countries capital punishment (it is said that three quarters of Iran's 300 executions a year are for drug smuggling) appear to have little effect to stem the tide.
Yet Governments, with only a few exceptions, maintain a policy of criminalisation and ostensible opposition that is ineffective and some would argue actually exacerbates the evils associated with it.
Taking just one country, the United Kingdom, for an example, the Home Office estimates the illegal drugs market is worth over five billion GBPs.
In addition the costs to society from crime, disruption and health treatment, have been estimated by the National Crime Agency at almost twelve billion GBPs.
As with all estimates they may understate the financial implications and certainly take no account of such things as family breakdown and loss of economic productivity. Twenty billions happens to be the amount of tax payer's money the government has pledged to the National Health Service. What proportion of police time and resources is taken up with drug related incidents, almost invariably directed at the 'low lying fruit'? How often do we hear of so called 'Drug Lords' being brought to book?
Part of a bigger picture
Nor should we overlook the fact that illegal drugs is just a small part of drug-related human behaviour. It is comforting to divide drugs into the legal and illegal varieties, the former to treat disease conditions, the latter unnecessary and dangerous but this will simply not do. Alcohol and nicotine are both legally available though obviously dangerous and problematic to a greater or lesser extent. Literally tons of drugs are issued via the medical profession and prescription. For example seventy million prescriptions were issued last year for anti-depressants alone, each for a week or longer. That's one prescription and multiple tablets for every resident in the country!
Addiction: a human failing
The only conclusion to be drawn from all this is that a sizable proportion of the population is addicted to drugs of one sort or another and that it is the rule rather than the exception. Humans are obviously possessed of inherently addictive and obsessive personalities. The sooner we realise this and address the fact the better. Drugs are taken across the board to relieve suffering and pain whether physical or mental. The fact that in the end they invariably cause more, does not seem to deter their application.
A new approach required
This fact alone requires a change in the way we approach the subject and our perception of it. There is no doubt it requires a fundamental philosophical change to the way drugs, both legal and illegal are viewed and treated. We also need to do some profound soul-searching as to why so many humans see the need for chemical substances in order to cope with life. What sort of world have humans created that so necessitates such reliance on drugs and how might this be reversed?
Because the drugs trade is illegal and insanely profitable, it cannot be stopped even with draconian measures. Humans are prepared to take insane risks where either physical addiction or the likelihood of riches impels. It also corrupts all other elements of society. Banks have turned a blind eye to where the cash has come from as do those who deal in property and expensive goods. Enforcement agencies are beguiled and bought off with bribes and once compromised are at the mercy of criminal manipulation through blackmail. The public of course is generally kept in the dark and is unaware as to the extent of the problem.
A reality check
The convicted, but now reformed, drug supplier, followed by many thousands, does an important service by interviewing those directly involved on both sides of the drugs trade as well as those with experience of the criminal underworld including his own.
In his conversation with Neil Woods, an ex-undercover cop in the UK employed to identify drug networks, it is clear that although well-intentioned, police operations are actually ineffective and counterproductive. Not only did the arrest of a network of dealers immediately lead to another gang filling the breach but also led, he found, to increased violence.
This resulted from resulting turf wars and to the more incipient need not to be 'snitched' on when arrested. If names had to be provided to mitigate the sentence later incurred, those with a less violent reputation would be the ones to choose to avoid violent repercussions. Dealers knew the more violent they were, the safer they became. See: http://veaterecosan.blogspot.com/2019/10/drugs-biggest-goldrush-in-world-and-its.html
Drug related crime
Much of the recent spike in youth murders is gang and drug related, as is the wave of shop lifting and theft necessary to support life in absence of regular income and to sustain a costly drug habit. Women are either forced into prostitution to pay for the habit or are intentionally turned into addicts by their pimps. London and other big cities provide the model for the rest of the country as the pernicious trade extends. Unemployment, homelessness, educational failure, family breakdown, child abuse, urban and industrial decay all provide fertile ground for addiction.
Solutions?
So what is 'Government', to do about this issue that causes untold harm to the individual and society?
First it needs to admit its penal approach to drug-taking is misguided and totally ineffective. In truth it knows this to be the case but is politically terrified of taking a different approach. Although widespread, drug taking is widely regarded with disdain as are those who engage in it. They have little influence on decision makers. If anyone is to be targeted it needs to be those at the top of the pyramid not those at the bottom, although for the reasons already stated, it is doubtful this will set back the trade for long.
The government therefore needs to update its understanding to drugs in general and dispense with the outdated and unhelpful classification of socially acceptable and unacceptable. Let's just accept that all drugs have both benefits and dangers and treat them all with uniform circumspection and control. It must be absurd to criminalise Cannabis, particularly when it has proven medicinal applications, just because of historic irrational fears and baggage. The criminalisation and incarceration of a generation of users, is nothing short of criminal itself.
The British Parliament has consistently refused to initiate a comprehensive review of drug legislation and activity. With so many dying and being adversely affected this unforgivable. Is the explanation political cowardice, negligence or something more sinister? After all who really does benefit from the this multi-billion pound industry? And who benefits from not treating it rationally?
Addiction to chemical substances, be it nicotine or alcohol, prescription drugs or currently illegal drugs, is a medical and social issue not a criminal one. Maybe we need to question why supplying the latter ones incurs fines and imprisonment, whilst the former results in Knighthoods and large pay-packets?
Why should society not benefit in tax, from the production and sale of cannabis as it does from tobacco? Why should the dangers of drugs of all kinds be properly communicated with the necessary support and advice services. Would it not be preferable to spend on these what we currently expend on police and lawyers?
Perhaps what is needed is a government department devoted solely to drugs in all their forms, the addictions and problems that go with them. In the meantime political class and government needs to appoint a committee of enquiry with broad terms of reference without further delay and GET A GRIP on what is a majot threat to individuals and society alike!
Drugs and the violent consequences from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-london-49632394
Mr Aylett describes the drug-dealing world as "one of turf-wars, rivalries and pathetic claims for ‘respect’.
He adds: "When drug-dealers fall out, they do not take their problems to the police. Instead, they take matters into their own hands, prepared to use serious violence in order to prove whatever point it is that they wish to make.
"The prosecution allege that all four defendants had gone together in Petrovic’s car to Harold Hill in order to mete out violence – and not, as Petrovic has claimed, to collect money and drugs.
Mr Aylett says it is the prosecutions case that the four males "acted together as part of a joint plan to cause at least really serious bodily harm to someone in that park, even if Jodie Chesney was not necessarily their intended target."
"If the prosecution are right in saying that Jodie Chesney was an entirely blameless individual who got caught up in some quarrel between drug dealers, then her murder was the terrible but predictable consequence of an all-too casual approach to the carrying – and using – of knives."
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-ticket-holder-is-countrys-biggest-ever-lottery-winner-after-scooping-170-m-euro-millions-jackpot-064615281.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYW9sLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvMjAxOS8xMC8wOS9ib3Jpcy1qb2huc29uLXBsYW5uaW5nLXRvLXRlbGwtcXVlZW4tc2hlLWNhbi10LXNhY2staGltLWlmLWhlLz9uY2lkPXdlYm1haWw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACphZd00ZrEpYxGjkc9_kHslb_4P5Y3Lybe3UAFVTFQEbdL3W1yiMhu05raO4gZp6PUrzyOTL2t96mWJc6Xlusumxrtx6AZMiu0FsewJeN26UXH0oqHjUH8nelkbe2N6bWtlSYG9P3rzi5dU9gYKTN5KA7wtRAf1eeSfgUVUPGjX
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/uk-ticket-holder-is-countrys-biggest-ever-lottery-winner-after-scooping-170-m-euro-millions-jackpot-064615281.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYW9sLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvMjAxOS8xMC8wOS9ib3Jpcy1qb2huc29uLXBsYW5uaW5nLXRvLXRlbGwtcXVlZW4tc2hlLWNhbi10LXNhY2staGltLWlmLWhlLz9uY2lkPXdlYm1haWw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACphZd00ZrEpYxGjkc9_kHslb_4P5Y3Lybe3UAFVTFQEbdL3W1yiMhu05raO4gZp6PUrzyOTL2t96mWJc6Xlusumxrtx6AZMiu0FsewJeN26UXH0oqHjUH8nelkbe2N6bWtlSYG9P3rzi5dU9gYKTN5KA7wtRAf1eeSfgUVUPGjX
Britain's biggest ever drug smuggling gang has been smashed after billions of pounds worth of narcotics was brought into the UK, the National Crime Agency has said.
Officers arrested 13 men aged between 24 and 59 on Tuesday across the country in dawn raids.
The NCA seized 351 kilos of cocaine, 92 kilos of heroin, 250 kilos of cannabis and 1,850 kilos of hemp/hashish, with a total street value of more than £38 million, in three consignments in September 2018.
War is Good for Business and Organized Crime: Afghanistan’s Multibillion Dollar Opium Trade. Rising Heroin Addiction in the US
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ReplyDeleteJames English
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James English, The Anything Goes Show. Ep 51.
Shaun Attwood talks about his life from being a millionaire stock broker to ecstasy king pin and working with the Mexican mafia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJoUhYgFgS0