The Serious Organised Crime Agency has been trumpeting to the BBC that the international cocaine market is “in retreat” after a year of successful operations around the world:
It says its undercover work has helped send wholesale prices soaring. Prices per kilo have risen from £39,000 in 2008 to over £45,000 (50,000 euros), but street prices have remained stable.
What this means in practice:
Data collected by the Forensic Science Service reveals how drug gangs are using increasing amounts of chemicals – so-called cutting agents – to dilute cocaine powder sold on the streets of Britain. They include the cancer-causing drug phenacetin, cockroach insecticide and pet worming powder.
Analysts at Drugscope say the shortage of supply has not seen a fall in street prices although purity levels have dropped. “At the moment price is relatively stable for cocaine,” says Drugscope director Martin Barnes. “What is happening is that dealers are maximising their profits by selling a product that is potentially more harmful and much less pure and a lot of people buying it probably don’t realise that’s what’s going on.”
Brilliant. A triumph. Well done SOCA; well done indeed.
(For what a non-asinine approach to drug control would look like, click here.)
