Advanced Drug War Technology

The Doser has a friend that, speaking of protecting the US from drugs, made the following comment: "If we built a 25 foot wall all the way around the US, a cottage industry would immediately spring up all along the outside constructing 30 foot ladders." The recent article in the April 26, 2009, NYT Magazine reminded The Doser of his friend's remark. The article points out that our "enemy" in "The Drug War" is delivering tons of cocaine in almost submersible home-made boats. They are fabricated by unskilled workers in the jungles of Columbia. Successes against each new technical improvement on illicit drug delivery are heart-warming to Drug War aficionados but they are relatively insignificant compared to the failures: Only an estimated 14% of these semi-submersibles is detected. Seventy of them were constructed last year. Each one carries 10 metric tons of cocaine, or any other cargo. A little math reveals that they are able to deliver a probable 650 tons of coke annually.