Terry Sarten: Drug seizure dollar values just encouraging crims

PRESUMPTUOUS LITTLE NUMBER: Will connoisseurs elevate the 'jazz gigarette' to the heady realms of fine wines?

DON'T talk about the war - the war on drugs that is. It is a lost cause.

No matter the laws, sentences or border searchers ranged against the endless flow of illicit drugs, there will always be a market for them despite the damage they cause. They are a classic example of supply and demand - if there were no buyers, the market would fade away.

One way to change this would be to stop talking up the market value. Every time the law busts a dealer, drug mule, gang members or a meth lab, the value of the haul is trumpeted as a significant win on points to the good guys. This seems somewhat counter-intuitive as it only provides further incentive to the criminally-inclined entrepreneur.

Announcing to the world you have seized illicit drugs worth $XXXX grand simply tells the market what the current return is on the commodity, highlighting the potential return on investment. It is the equivalent of listing on the stock exchange of criminal earnings.

Just as the Auckland and Queenstown escalating house prices are being created by supply and demand with huge potential profits, the value of illicit drugs seizures simply sets a price for the market.

This practice is probably meant to show the value removed from the market because the drugs were prevented from entering the illegal drug economy - instead it serves to illustrate the potential profits. This is hardly a disincentive to the discerning criminal mind.

Many years ago, while delivering alcohol and drug programmes at the prison, I recall an inmate attempting to divert the class from the straight and narrow by boasting about how much money he had made from his nocturnal narcotic adventures.

The group were admiring and almost converted to the economic model being touted until I asked how long he was in for? I divided his earnings over jail time - suddenly his business model lost its glamour and we resumed discussion about the effects of alcohol and drugs on families and particularly children.

Next time drugs are seized at the border it may be wise to just mention the type and quantity of substance found and drop all references to the street value. Crims usually have enough ideas about how to make a quick buck without giving them a pricing and profit schedule.

Although I have no desire to smoke marijuana myself, there are many in the wonderful world of music who do like what was known in the 1920s as "a jazz cigarette".

I recently overheard a conversation between people sharing a joint and noted with wry amusement their comments on the aromatic qualities of their spliff.

"It has a hint of mint, I reckon."

"Yeah ... I can taste that, too."

It sounded like a couple of connoisseurs talking about fine wines. Is this a sign of the times - that dope smokers will follow the posh world of wine and begin sharing high minded pleasantries about the source and qualities of their chosen drug?

"This one is a presumptuous little number ... there is a touch of tannin, with a hint of berry in the nose, clearly grown on the south-facing side of a river valley."

"Yes, the depth of the fruity aftertaste challenges the palate to respond. It has a mature smoky flavour that tingles the back of the throat and carries a narrative of fog-bound hills and fresh dollar bills and it doesn't tax the mind to much. Does that make it a tax haven?"

"Try this rare buzz2012 batch that has been grown in a secluded corner of a national park - the light dusting of 1080 adds a distinctive note of dead possum to the bouquet."

-Terry Sarten is a writer, musician and social worker - feedback: tgs@inspire.net.nz