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it costs pollution to grow, transport, stock, plastic-wrap, etc.. it's like saying: "it doesn't cost pollution to buy those avocadoes grown in another continen
by 11235813213455 3y ago
it costs pollution to grow, transport, stock, plastic-wrap, etc..
it's like saying: "it doesn't cost pollution to buy those avocadoes grown in another continent since they're already there", it's true immediately (above all if very ripe), but in the mid-long term, reducing consumption reduces production & pollution (at all level of the chain)
- Scoundreller 3y agoSure there are some essential production and distribution costs, but let's remember that cocaine is a minimally processed leaf extract. You can industrialize its production and get close to sugar level production pricing and distribution. Sugar sourced from Brazil hits my Toronto supermarket shelf bagged at CAD$1.50/kg at 99.9% purity, including retailer markup. Which is like 1/50000th the retail price of cocaine. Even if it costs 10x as much due to lower volume/weaker extracts/slower growth/additional processing, you're talking a 99.9something% reduction in resource expenditure per dose. Price of something is a good representation of the resources destroyed ("costs") in its production.
- fsociety 3y agoMinimally processed leaf extract? You make it sound like extracting cocaine is the equivalent to making sugar.
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoMost sugar today comes from beets and is extracted through an industrial process. Drug cartels rely on things like gasoline because they are commonly available, but if there were not criminal sanctions on the process, then it’s possible some higher-quality means of extraction would be employed.
- qwytw 3y ago> it’s possible Nope it's not possible and it's more than obvious way. The cocaine content in coca leaves is 0.23% to 0.96%. Sugarcane has a magnitude or so higher sugar content.
- Scoundreller 3y agoIt’s almost all from sugarcane in Canada, crude juice is extracted in places like Brazil and refined in Canada. You can chew out the sugar or cocaine if you like. (I think coca needs an acid base extraction to get a crystalline form, but that’s straightforward chemistry at scale)
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoMost sugar in my own backyard originates from beets, but I see I was wrong about it being most sugar worldwide. Wikipedia[0] gives a figure of 30% of world sugar for 2013. If crude juice is extracted in Brazil and refined in Canada, I’m surprised that it is viewed as cost-effective to transport so much unneeded liquid by sea. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_beet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_beet
- Scoundreller 3y agoI could be mistaken on the form of sea transit. I just know it gets refined in Canada (which also seems like a waste: why not refine at source?). Sea transit is cheap, sugarcane grows better in the tropics than beets in cooler places. Harder to harvest below-ground stuff. Canada used to subsidize/protect sugar beet producers (to keep them competitive), but largely got out of it. Maybe that’s why we still refine it: because the plants still exist.
- Scoundreller 3y agoIt is. Then you’re an acid-base crystallization away to powder product. Cocaine is not a synthetic drug. Been around long before any human was walking around.
- dylan604 3y agoBut it's the refining that is modern. Chewing on coca leaves is not the same thing as a little key bump. Let's not try to confuse what's happening
- Scoundreller 3y agoSolvent-extraction and crystallization isn't very modern.
- DontchaKnowit 3y agoAre we really arguing about the pollution caused by the cocaine trade instead of the violence and destruction of lives for addicts. What a proposterous contention