Brazil's deadliest ever police operation - 120 dead after Rio de Janeiro drug raid

I don't have any complete answers, only more questions.

Once a product exists and is cheap to produce the only way to stop a trade in it is to remove the demand. So governments need to discover why the demand exists and remove that reason. Perhaps by comparing the backgrounds of those who do and do not take drugs. Unfortunately this is much more difficult to do than simply shooting a few low level drug runners.

For instance Norway has more than double the prevalence of opiate use of Sweden and Denmark has double the prevalence of Norway, yet in many ways they are very similar countries. All three are stable, modern, social democratic states with good social security and health systems and relatively few people living in absolute rather than relative poverty. Norway and Sweden also have broadly similar climates and population density, etc. So why the difference, and of course is the difference actually meaningful?

Of course ease of access does have an effect as can be seen by the fact that Afghanistan is both the biggest supplier of opiates and the biggest consumer, at least by the definitions of this Wikipedia article:


I think it is also valuable to examine the premise: How can the trade be stopped? Is it actually necessary to stop it, is it ultimately possible? Perhaps the emphasis should instead be on improving, or perhaps merely changing, the lives of the people so that they do not feel the need for drugs.

Others have put it more eloquently, but the demand always drives the supply. The rich and middle class consumers of cocaine at their dinner parties are as much to blame as the poorest farmers exploited by ruthless gangs. Addiction is a health issue not a crime. The trade needs to be disrupted at all stages and the value of the product reduced.

tRump's "drug war" is mostly misdirection. Venezuela isn't a major drug source. The most dangerous drug entering the US is fentanyl. And fentanyl is so compact it doesn't need big shiploads. And the ultimate source of fentanyl is China, but tRump conveniently ignores that fact.

According to the conservative Cato Institute, fentanyl Is smuggled for U.S. citizens By U.S. citizens, across legal border crossings.

❖ Fentanyl smuggling is ultimately funded by U.S. consumers who pay for illicit opioids: nearly 99 percent of whom are U.S. citizens.

❖ In 2022, U.S. citizens were 89 percent of convicted fentanyl drug traffickers—12 times greater than convictions of illegal immigrants for the same offense.

❖ In 2023, 93 percent of fentanyl seizures occurred at legal crossing points or interior vehicle checkpoints, not on illegal migration routes, so U.S. citizens (who are subject to less scrutiny) when crossing legally are the best smugglers.

❖ The location of smuggling makes sense because hard drugs at ports of entry are at least 96 percent less likely to be stopped than people crossing illegally between them.

❖ At most, just 0.009 percent of the people arrested by Border Patrol for crossing illegally possessed any fentanyl whatsoever.

❖ The government exacerbated the problem by banning most legal cross-border traffic in 2020 and 2021, accelerating a switch to fentanyl (the easiest-to-conceal drug).

❖ During the travel restrictions, fentanyl seizures at ports quadrupled from fiscal year 2019 to 2021. Fentanyl went from a third of combined heroin and fentanyl seizures to over 90 percent.

❖ Annual deaths from fentanyl nearly doubled from 2019 to 2021 after the government banned most travel (and asylum).

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From the conservative Cato Institute.
https://www.cato.org/blog/fentanyl-smuggled-us-citizens-us-citizens-not-asylum-seekers
https://www.cato.org/blog/us-citizens-were-89-convicted-fentanyl-traffickers-2022

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Its simple.. The governments of nations who want to keep drugs out buy up the production. And addicts register for free "medication" administered by government mandate. Each addict becomes a patient and doesnt need to steal or commit crime and doesnt suffer the associated health issues that go with addiction. There are more details, like drivers licence restrictions and legal limits.. But the drug cartels are gone in monthes. Who will pay and adopt a risky lifestile when you can get it clean and free?😷

Trump isn't after the drug cartel per say in Venezuela. He just wants to get rid of president Maduro. The bombings of those boats are misdirection.

Ask why does Trump want to remove president Maduro? Venezuela has the oil Trump wants.

Better to ask why Trump isn't after the fentanyl being made in Mexico. Again Trump doesn't care about drugs. China is the one supplying Mexico the chemicals to make fentanyl.

Yup! A lot like Duterte's killings and even bigger than Trump's murders at sea! Brazilian cops and military are super conservative and free from control by laws!
When I posted about it of course nobody saw it! No response. Like y'all do!
Shunning me is definitely a sign of something evil. Y'all got a big tendency to shun me, here, all users!

It doesn’t work it minimum 10 years prison sentence then then when they are out they’ve made their money whilst sitting in prison, even death sentences don’t work