4 ms·

It's surprisingly simple to locate the plantations using LIDAR + spectrometry. Even easier in Afghanistan, where fields are cultivated in the open. It's so well

It's surprisingly simple to locate the plantations using LIDAR + spectrometry. Even easier in Afghanistan, where fields are cultivated in the open. It's so well documented that the UNDOC provides an anual report with the amount in acres. I could go on, but this is enough to make one wonder why they aren't being stopped.

enraged_camel 10y ago
>>Insatiable drug appetite is a constant Says who?
- callalex 10y ago
  The decades upon decades of failed abolishment efforts speak for themselves.
- cookiecaper 10y ago
  So I'm by no means pro-drug, and I agree that most people who say "it's impossible to fix because we haven't fixed it yet" lack imagination, but there is absolutely some fishy stuff going on with drug policy. What we are doing now is broken, has been broken, and everyone knows it's broken. There are hidden motives here, no doubt. Corruption is a very real thing and there are a lot of people with a lot at stake regarding drug policy. The most important thing to successful drug prohibition and treatment is a semi-controllable grey market.
jfim 10y ago
> I could go on, but this is enough to make one wonder why they aren't being stopped. Except for that pesky sovereignty thing.
- toss1941 10y ago
  I was thinking of police corruption myself.
- 2_listerine_pls 10y ago
  Is that the same sovereignty that stopped the US from from drilling their oil after overthrowing their government? It's odd reason given that narcotics are/were supposedly one of the principal sources of the Taliban’s financing.
  - mattnewton 10y ago
    We all moved on after finding out there were no weapons of mass destruction without even an "oops" from the public, so I wouldn't hold your breath on anyone launching a successful campaign there- still, if that's true, I would really like to see someone make a documentary or some articles about it in a format the masses will see. Could be really compelling to people not typically reached by advocates of drug reform.
  - Paradigma11 10y ago
    What oil in afghanistan? Even in iraq the oil reserves are managed by the iraqi ministry and went mostly to chinese companies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93Iraq_relations#Recent_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93Iraq_relations#R... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/world/middleeast/china-reaps-biggest-benefits-of-iraq-oil-boom.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/world/middleeast/china-rea...
- unethical_ban 10y ago
  Sovereignty and the concept of hostile action/influence on life can make the line blurry. If, through inaction, violent warlords displace thousands or millions of people, are the destination countries not adversely affected? The US has millions of economic and war-affected Mexican refugees. Same with Syria... should Germany, Turkey, Greece, etc. say "Syria is sovereign, nothing we can do" when their countries are being overrun? The US should look to improve life in Mexico and reduce cartel power first through economic and peaceful political means, and then, PERHAPS and after much thought, bombing the shit out of every cartel leader on the same night, Godfather style. I'm only half kidding.
  - jfim 10y ago
    > The US has millions of economic and war-affected Mexican refugees. This is false. According to the DHS, less than 1400 refugees have been granted asylum between fiscal years 2013 to 2015 (inclusive) [1]. > Same with Syria... should Germany, Turkey, Greece, etc. say "Syria is sovereign, nothing we can do" when their countries are being overrun? Why not? > The US should look to improve life in Mexico and reduce cartel power first through economic and peaceful political means, and then, PERHAPS and after much thought, bombing the shit out of every cartel leader on the same night, Godfather style. I'm only half kidding. Doesn't seem like what the current administration is doing, though. [1] https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2015/table17 https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2015/tab...
    - unethical_ban 10y ago
      I used the refugee term in the sense of "they came here to escape poverty and gang wars", not "the State Dept allowed them in". And "Why not"? Because of my point: Syrian war is having a very real, direct impact on the other countries, and is violating the Non-Aggression Principle. So even if someone is a Libertarian or non-absolute Pacifist, it could be argued those countries most affected by refugees have the right to self-defense against Syrian combatants.
throwaway91111 10y ago
Well, who knows why mexico doesn't take advantage of that. But they are the only people who can.
therealdrag0 10y ago
Here's an interesting podcast on the supply of drugs: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/02/tom_wainwright.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/02/tom_wainwright.html The guest mentions that in the Ande's mountains it is still tough to identify drug growing.
- 2_listerine_pls 10y ago
  LIDAR can go through canopy because there are spaces between leaves. Take a look at the Carnegie Airborne Observatory's tech.
cmdkeen 10y ago
Because the farmers get paid next to nothing so disrupting supply does nothing to raise costs (the usual measure of the effect a supply side policy has). Mexican weed production soared because the authorities were pulled into cities due to violence leaving the rural terrain uncovered. Narconomics is a good read on the various measures that have been tried. Going after poor South American farmers these days means the cartels just means the cartels don't pay them as much. Far too much policy making around narcotics is done by knee-jerk reactions, on both sides.

enraged_camel 10y ago

>>Insatiable drug appetite is a constant Says who?

callalex 10y ago
The decades upon decades of failed abolishment efforts speak for themselves.
cookiecaper 10y ago
So I'm by no means pro-drug, and I agree that most people who say "it's impossible to fix because we haven't fixed it yet" lack imagination, but there is absolutely some fishy stuff going on with drug policy. What we are doing now is broken, has been broken, and everyone knows it's broken. There are hidden motives here, no doubt. Corruption is a very real thing and there are a lot of people with a lot at stake regarding drug policy. The most important thing to successful drug prohibition and treatment is a semi-controllable grey market.

jfim 10y ago

> I could go on, but this is enough to make one wonder why they aren't being stopped. Except for that pesky sovereignty thing.

toss1941 10y ago
I was thinking of police corruption myself.
2_listerine_pls 10y ago
Is that the same sovereignty that stopped the US from from drilling their oil after overthrowing their government? It's odd reason given that narcotics are/were supposedly one of the principal sources of the Taliban’s financing.
- mattnewton 10y ago
  We all moved on after finding out there were no weapons of mass destruction without even an "oops" from the public, so I wouldn't hold your breath on anyone launching a successful campaign there- still, if that's true, I would really like to see someone make a documentary or some articles about it in a format the masses will see. Could be really compelling to people not typically reached by advocates of drug reform.
- Paradigma11 10y ago
  What oil in afghanistan? Even in iraq the oil reserves are managed by the iraqi ministry and went mostly to chinese companies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93Iraq_relations#Recent_history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93Iraq_relations#R... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/world/middleeast/china-reaps-biggest-benefits-of-iraq-oil-boom.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/world/middleeast/china-rea...
unethical_ban 10y ago
Sovereignty and the concept of hostile action/influence on life can make the line blurry. If, through inaction, violent warlords displace thousands or millions of people, are the destination countries not adversely affected? The US has millions of economic and war-affected Mexican refugees. Same with Syria... should Germany, Turkey, Greece, etc. say "Syria is sovereign, nothing we can do" when their countries are being overrun? The US should look to improve life in Mexico and reduce cartel power first through economic and peaceful political means, and then, PERHAPS and after much thought, bombing the shit out of every cartel leader on the same night, Godfather style. I'm only half kidding.
- jfim 10y ago
  > The US has millions of economic and war-affected Mexican refugees. This is false. According to the DHS, less than 1400 refugees have been granted asylum between fiscal years 2013 to 2015 (inclusive) [1]. > Same with Syria... should Germany, Turkey, Greece, etc. say "Syria is sovereign, nothing we can do" when their countries are being overrun? Why not? > The US should look to improve life in Mexico and reduce cartel power first through economic and peaceful political means, and then, PERHAPS and after much thought, bombing the shit out of every cartel leader on the same night, Godfather style. I'm only half kidding. Doesn't seem like what the current administration is doing, though. [1] https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2015/table17 https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2015/tab...
  - unethical_ban 10y ago
    I used the refugee term in the sense of "they came here to escape poverty and gang wars", not "the State Dept allowed them in". And "Why not"? Because of my point: Syrian war is having a very real, direct impact on the other countries, and is violating the Non-Aggression Principle. So even if someone is a Libertarian or non-absolute Pacifist, it could be argued those countries most affected by refugees have the right to self-defense against Syrian combatants.

throwaway91111 10y ago

Well, who knows why mexico doesn't take advantage of that. But they are the only people who can.

therealdrag0 10y ago

Here's an interesting podcast on the supply of drugs: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/02/tom_wainwright.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/02/tom_wainwright.html The guest mentions that in the Ande's mountains it is still tough to identify drug growing.

2_listerine_pls 10y ago
LIDAR can go through canopy because there are spaces between leaves. Take a look at the Carnegie Airborne Observatory's tech.

cmdkeen 10y ago

Because the farmers get paid next to nothing so disrupting supply does nothing to raise costs (the usual measure of the effect a supply side policy has). Mexican weed production soared because the authorities were pulled into cities due to violence leaving the rural terrain uncovered. Narconomics is a good read on the various measures that have been tried. Going after poor South American farmers these days means the cartels just means the cartels don't pay them as much. Far too much policy making around narcotics is done by knee-jerk reactions, on both sides.