Via the BBC: Strong euro behind cocaine flows

The euro’s strength against the dollar may explain a rise in the availability of cocaine in Europe and a decline in the US, a US anti-drugs official says.

John Walters, director of US national drug control policy, said the amount of cocaine seized at the US south-western borders had declined.

The price and the purity of cocaine in US have also fallen, he said.

Meanwhile, Europe has seen a huge increase in availability as traffickers take advantage of the exchange rate.

Given that the entire drug industry is about huge profits, it should hardly be a surprise that the traffickers prefer those profits in the stronger currency.

The euro has risen by almost 20% against the dollar in the past 12 months to hit a record above $1.59. On Friday, the euro fetched $1.5825.

The euro has become an attractive currency for investors because of relatively high interest rates in the eurozone.

The US dollar, meanwhile, has suffered because of a number of factors including a slowing economy, low interest rates and problems from the credit crisis.

Of course, the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, John Walters, says that the shift is the result of US and Mexican interdiction efforts (via the AP) and also points to Venezuela’s government turning a blind eye to the usage of their territory.

Beyond issues of the Euro and of US policy, the bottom line is that traffickers will take the path of least resistance and are extremely good at adapting, over time, to efforts to staunch the flow of their products. Mexico become the main route for drugs into the US as the US government got better at interdicting drugs coming from the Caribbean into Miami. While it may well be that the US and Mexican efforts are having an effect, the bottom line is that the drug cartels will find a new way to get their product to market.

It is perhaps the safest bet in the land that whatever diminution to the price and quality of cocaine entering the US will be reversed shortly. We have frequently seen blips on the drug war radar that are always touted as a sign that we are finally about to turn the corner. Yet, it never happens–and as long as people like intoxicants (and billions of dollars can be made providing them) that corner will not be turned.

Despite that fact, the US will continue to pour billions of taxpayer dollars down the drain, whilst continuing to militarize both Latin American law enforcement and our own (to the detriment of democracy all around).