
The San Francisco Drug Economy - ryan_j_naughton
http://priceonomics.com/the-san-francisco-drug-economy/
======
ChuckFrank
I wish I was there when this piece came it at priceonomics. Aside from some
price comparisons, I didn't feel that it really got into the economics of the
market, and how it might be skewed on the streets, what operating constraints
exist.

It would have been interesting to see if there was support in this study for
the iron law of prohibition, which states that the harder the laws, the harder
the drugs.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_prohibition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_prohibition)

Vice did a great job of showing this in the economies of illegal alcohol sales
in the Canadian Territories, where people wanted to drink beer, but ended up
drinking vodka instead, and they wanted to drink a little bit of it, but ended
up being forced to drink a lot.

You can watch it here --
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIhUhHbTJ_s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIhUhHbTJ_s)

Unintended consequences is always fascinating reporting, as it would have been
here.

As to the side effects of the tech industry on drug us, all I can say is that
in my volunteer work at City Team, I see it everyday. And I think it's
intentional. I think it's part hazing, part group dynamics, and part social
psychopath testing, that alcohol and drugs play such a large role in most all
the tech companies that I consult with.

And if that concerns you, consider volunteering at a place like City Team as
well. They need help every night.

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rm_-rf_slash
At first I was surprised at the amount of speed and opiates consumed around
the Bay Area. Weed and psychedelics seem reasonable given the population, but
the more I think about it, the more it makes sense: impressionable kids
straight out of college are thrust into extremely fast-paced work lives with
too little wisdom and too much cash, so it seems like a natural continuation
of the college mindset, i.e., cramming with addy and winding down with weed,
by keeping up with coke and numbing down with Vicodin or heroin. The concept
of work-life balance approaches insanity in the valley. I'm glad that I left,
and I haven't looked back.

~~~
beachstartup
speed (meth) and opiates (pills, dirty heroin) are a huge problem in
california in general, not just the bay area.

disaffected, loserish kids in the suburbs are doing it just as much as rich
bay area yuppies.

~~~
nosuchthing
San Francisco is the only place I've ever seen custom glass funnels for sale
at headshops.

SF is also the only place I've ever seen flyers advertising a Whipit delivery
service (nitrous oxide).

Generally speaking SF seems to be much more loose with drug use than other
cities in CA - although I will say, from what I've seen, the use of
pharmaceuticals like benzos and adderal seem to be treated as lightly as
alcohol these days.

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sarciszewski
As soon as I saw that edited photo with a blurred out face of the crack
cocaine user, I was reminded of
[http://yuzhikov.com/articles/BlurredImagesRestoration1.htm](http://yuzhikov.com/articles/BlurredImagesRestoration1.htm)

~~~
slig
Very interesting article! Thanks for sharing.

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littlewing
If you only gathered the same data on a regular basis, then you might have a
startup on your hands. The name should somehow incorporate Fear and Loathing.
You'd also want metrics for addiction, (in)ability to carry on everyday
activities, etc. and graph that to find the sweet spot for best bang for the
buck. Possible integration with Siri, Cortana, Google Now, etc. "Siri, I want
to get high." "Sure, just see Terry on Market St. He's got some snow at a
great price. For your current body weight, you should buy 5 grams to have a
good time tonight."

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djcapelis
You can get a milligram scale for $20.49 on Amazon.

The article calls these "high-powered, expensive scales" which seems like a
weird thing for a blog that's all about prices of things to get so wrong.

~~~
mninm
I once priced a variety of scales on Amazon and for weeks afterward the stream
of recommended products that Amazon shows at the bottom of the page became
polluted with all sorts of drug paraphernalia that Amazon sells.

My takeaway is that drug dealers/users use Amazon to buy their supplies just
like anyone else. It makes sense, I mean, why wouldn't they?

~~~
erroneousfunk
I was at a punk bar in Boston, and, a little drunk, walked up to one of the
scarier-looking punks and asked about his jacket. He told me how he spiked the
entire thing, put in the studs, and sewed on all the patches. I asked "where
did you get the spikes?" he replied "Amazon, mate!"

Everyone buys everything on Amazon.

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dsr_
The last chart shows that the ninth most-seized drug is acetaminophen.

Tylenol?

Is this because it's being used to cut other drugs, or is it the persecution
of schoolkids?

~~~
throwawayornot
many prescription opioids also contain acetaminophen

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tormeh
>"[...]or because of the stress of these tech jobs they start doing cocaine to
stay up and oxycodone to relax. Working 80-hour weeks and making crazy money
extracts a terrible toll on you."

How the fuck is this acceptable? How are inhumane workloads like these legal?

~~~
yummyfajitas
The impression I get is that SF is a place to work, not a place to live. You
go there, become deeply involved in tech, learn from your surroundings and
level up your skills, and then move on. There are no women to distract you,
immigrant-hostile natives to chase you back to campus, and campuses that
provide a perfect environment for you to focus on tech.

It's certainly not an environment that everyone would like - neither is USMC
bootcamp, a PhD program or an MMA gym. Why should that be illegal?

To quote Marge Simpson (regarding watching MMA): "Call me a killjoy, but I
think that because this is not to my taste, no one else should be able to
enjoy it."

~~~
billmalarky
>To quote Marge Simpson (regarding MMA): "Call me a killjoy, but I think that
because this is not to my taste, no one else should be able to enjoy it."

Actions in hyper-competitive SV have a ripple effect on the rest of tech
economy globally. If the only way to compete in tech is to use performance
enhancing drugs, well that's exactly the sort of situation where I'd want the
government to step in with regulation. I don't want to have to use drugs in
order to stay competitive. It's a health issue, similar to professional sports
and drug use. Performance enhancing drugs are banned for the health of the
athletes, not for the "spirit of the game."

~~~
yummyfajitas
Athletics is a zero sum game - the athletes are harmed and the rest of the
world is not helped. If we ban PEDs, the football will still reach the
endzone.

Tech is a positive sum game. If PEDs help get us the next Uber, AirBnB or
OkCupid, it's well worth the price of some less dedicated people being
outcompeted. It's insane to hold the world back simply so certain less
dedicated developers can maintain their current high status.

~~~
wfo
No, it's insane to sit back and let the market force people to disfigure and
destroy themselves for the profits of wealthy capitalists: to destroy humanity
in order to sacrifice it at the altar of capitalism

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GabrielF00
Why are people buying black market prozac? Isn't it pretty trivial to get a
prescription?

~~~
Carrok
Not if you don't have health insurance.

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Camillo
I always assumed the police knows about the dealing and allows it. You pretty
much can't walk by certain streets without being offered drugs.

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wahsd
SF is such a farce. Massive destruction and decomposition of society through
drugs on one side, massively insane and irrational wealth and valuations and
tech talent on the other.

