Coronavirus lockdowns are crippling the global drug trade - Contraband
“They are facing a supply problem and a demand problem”
The normally bustling vehicle traffic that smugglers use for cover has slowed to a trickle.
Bars, nightclubs and motels across the country that are ordinarily fertile marketplaces for
drug dealers have shuttered. And prices for drugs in short supply have soared to gouging levels.
Drugs seized from a tunnel under the Otay Mesa area of San Diego, Calif.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/19/coronavirus-lockdowns-are-crippling-the-global-drug-trade/
“The quarantine of Wuhan and all the chaos there definitely affected the fentanyl trade,
particularly between China and Mexico,” said Ben Westhoff, author of “Fentanyl, Inc.”
“The main reason China has been the main supplier is the main reason China is the supplier of everything - it does it so cheaply,” Westhoff said. “There was really no cost incentive for the cartels to develop this themselves.” Advertised prices across China for precursors of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cutting agents have risen between 25% and 400% since late February. “Because of the coronavirus they’re starting to do it in house,” added Westhoff.
Virtually every illicit drug has been impacted, with supply chain disruptions at both the wholesale and retail level. Traffickers are stockpiling narcotics and cash along the border, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration even reports a decrease in money laundering and online drug sales on the so-called dark web.
Opioid drug users are particularly less well-off, both physically and mentally. Generally, all drug users who can’t get their fix. Violence against people known to have drugs will likely increase, such as the pharmacy situation, as well as some health care facilities because they also have drugs on hand.
What is the social fallout of this COVID pandemic, aside from financial collapse, and actual death, more immediate things to consider, are hunger, depression, gratuitous sex, violence and increased substance abuse. What will be the real long term damage from this event horizon?
Alcohol consumption during COVID-19 pandemic has also increased
Alcoholic beverage sales increased by 55% in late March, compared to sales over the same period in 2019.
Unhealthy alcohol consumption can disrupt the body’s immune response, show that immune proteins,
including cytokines, fluctuate with binge alcohol consumption. As people stay at home and alcohol sales have skyrocketed.
https://news.usc.edu/168549/covid-19-alcohol-sales-abuse-stress-relapse-usc-experts/
dr. π (pi)
.
The normally bustling vehicle traffic that smugglers use for cover has slowed to a trickle.
Bars, nightclubs and motels across the country that are ordinarily fertile marketplaces for
drug dealers have shuttered. And prices for drugs in short supply have soared to gouging levels.
Drugs seized from a tunnel under the Otay Mesa area of San Diego, Calif.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/19/coronavirus-lockdowns-are-crippling-the-global-drug-trade/
“The quarantine of Wuhan and all the chaos there definitely affected the fentanyl trade,
particularly between China and Mexico,” said Ben Westhoff, author of “Fentanyl, Inc.”
“The main reason China has been the main supplier is the main reason China is the supplier of everything - it does it so cheaply,” Westhoff said. “There was really no cost incentive for the cartels to develop this themselves.” Advertised prices across China for precursors of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cutting agents have risen between 25% and 400% since late February. “Because of the coronavirus they’re starting to do it in house,” added Westhoff.
Virtually every illicit drug has been impacted, with supply chain disruptions at both the wholesale and retail level. Traffickers are stockpiling narcotics and cash along the border, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration even reports a decrease in money laundering and online drug sales on the so-called dark web.
Opioid drug users are particularly less well-off, both physically and mentally. Generally, all drug users who can’t get their fix. Violence against people known to have drugs will likely increase, such as the pharmacy situation, as well as some health care facilities because they also have drugs on hand.
What is the social fallout of this COVID pandemic, aside from financial collapse, and actual death, more immediate things to consider, are hunger, depression, gratuitous sex, violence and increased substance abuse. What will be the real long term damage from this event horizon?
Alcohol consumption during COVID-19 pandemic has also increased
Alcoholic beverage sales increased by 55% in late March, compared to sales over the same period in 2019.
Unhealthy alcohol consumption can disrupt the body’s immune response, show that immune proteins,
including cytokines, fluctuate with binge alcohol consumption. As people stay at home and alcohol sales have skyrocketed.
https://news.usc.edu/168549/covid-19-alcohol-sales-abuse-stress-relapse-usc-experts/
dr. π (pi)
.