Comment by TacticalCoder | Hacker News Reader

Comment by TacticalCoder | Hacker News Reader

I spend about 1/3rd of the year each year in Spain and an "interesting" development related to drug trades is happening here: basically lots of people realized cannabis plants were flowering as well, if not better, in Spain than in Morocco.

The EU / Spanish polices also got apparently much better at intercepting cannabis dealers trying to pass from Morocco to Spain (hence maybe these new drones attempts).

So now there are both individuals and gangs (including gagns from Morocco and from eastern europe) growing a huge lot of weed in Spain. As in: it's becoming very big business.

Individuals have the right, legally, to grow up to two cannabis plants (I think two plants for one adult in the household is the rule and you can legally by flowering and auto-flowering cannabis seeds in shops). But quite some individuals are, illegally, growing much more than two plants as a way to meet months' ends.

Technically this delivery drone is impressive but dealers from Morocco have much bigger problems than trying to stuff ganja into drones without getting intercepted: growing cannabis plant and making hashish and ganja directly in Spain, at cheaper prices.

The article says they are smuggling cocain. I doubt cannabis would be profitable enough.

It's not just about the cost of the drone, it must be a serious undertaking for a gang to get a hand on one of those without anyone noticing. The thing is basically an ultra-light aircraft, and probably extremely illegal to operate anywhere in Europe or any sane jurisdiction...

Initially it says that the intended purpose was cocaine, but then it goes on to say that online marijuana and hashish were found.

It also doesn't say whether or not they actually had the drone in the air at all.

Maybe those guys just hatched a crazy-ass idea, financed it with their previous marijuana "business" but haven't so far gotten around to actually buying cocaine in Morocco, much less smuggling it with a drone...

Maybe it's a false flag op. The smugglers left a little something for the local agencies to find so they can do a nice bit of PR so the public feels good about it. Meanwhile, the smugglers continue using their normal trade routes.

This will also help spur more anti-drone legislation ruining for the rest of us that never intended to use drones in this manner.

Those drug dealers are pain in the ass. First they sell drugs to our children, and then go on to ruin our drone legislation. What the hell comes next?!

They'll ruin your submarine legislation if you're not careful

Standing up for your rights is what comes next. Refuse to follow stupid laws.

Bruce Simpson is an activist that consistently exposes New Zealand's government propaganda. https://youtu.be/UNUtYucJchk

I think stupid-ass criminals is the more likely explanation...

I don't think there is any drone jurisdiction in the world where there would be a problem with such drones.

It's large enough that it will require extensive certification and permits both for the airframe and the pilot.

Sounds like they need to form a co-op. Each member signs their 2 plants to the co-op to manage/grow/etc. Pay the members something for their "license use". I'm guessing there are plenty of people that would never attempt to grow those 2 plants on their own, so don't let it get wasted.

Also, limit the co-op to be run by citizens of that country/city to keep it from becoming international rings (bwahahahaha, as if that would work)

I think you just described the „Cannabis Social Clubs“ in Spain.

Personal use likely precludes the ability to transfer rights like this.

Individuals have the right, legally, to grow up to two cannabis plants...

I believe that's a misconception. There were a few loopholes, fixed by a recent law (three or four year ago IIRC) that nuked cannabis clubs.

I'd say it's mostly safe to grow one of those auto-flowering seeds in your balcony, providing you use some translucid plastic, but telling the police "I have the right to grow two plants" seems like a weak defense.

Cannabis clubs have not been "nuked"; I'm writing this comment from one of more than a thousand across the country. Also growing plants on your balcony is forbidden; they can't be visible from outside.

Spanish here, can confirm.

It’s a de facto rule, it’s up to a judge to decide whether a person had intention of trafficking when found in possession of narcotics, trafficking is the only criminal offence. It’s common believe that 2 plants are OK for personal use.

The Moroccan hash is not intended for Spain, but for the whole of the EU ( NL in particular ).

The EU and perhaps NL in particular should really take another look at legalizing at least hash.

It would help to also legalize cocaine, but even Colombia that would benefit most from it, is still not ready to do something to break the status quo.

https://transformdrugs.org/blog/historic-win-for-coca-cocain...

Many Colombian people would agree to do this, many will look at you in bewilderment. The main issue is that too many people in government institutions are profiting from the status quo. Colombia itself has a rather massive drug use problem, or, the people of the younger generation are pretty open minded about consumption.

Yes the corruption makes it difficult to do much, but the War on Drugs has been going on for more than 50 years.

It's quite obvious that another 50 years will not do any difference, but the proposed bill just might.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_drugs

Like most wars it makes the powers that be very rich I guess

That's exactly why they want to keep the status-quo.

I'm all in for cocaine legalisation, but how do you make it safe? So much heart problems and overdoses that it's obviously would cause so much unnecessary deaths.

People die from cocaine even now when it's illegal. The question is if harm would increase due to legalisation. I think there is a good argument that harm could actually be reduced since quality and dose control would be much better. Treatment is also easier when those with substance use disorder are not seen as criminals.

Maybe if you sold in fairly limited doses in pharmacy by prescription at which point it would loose fun and create another market for aggregators/resellers. It's not like weed where it's impossible to OD (tho it can be very stressful).

People generally don't want to overdose. ODs happen when people are mistaken about the quality and purity of the product they get hold of. Legalisation would reduce the risks significantly.

Most issues are caused by concommittant alcohol use, since it makes cocaine metabolize into cocaethylene (ethylcocaine), which is both more addictive and much worse for the heart.

Quoth Wikipedia: Some studies suggest that consuming alcohol in combination with cocaine may be more cardiotoxic than cocaine and "it also carries an 18 to 25 fold increase over cocaine alone in risk of immediate death".

Interesting. That’s pretty much most popular combination.

Any country that legalizes cocaine will get on the US sanctions shit list which would cost the Netherlands hundreds of billions per year. Also there would be massive drug tourism.

Yes of course... but it still (used to?) mostly transit through Spain, where it then is passed into France etc. Heavy drugs coming from south america do also transit through Spain.

I found back the article (in english) I read earlier this year on the subject:

https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2021-02-03/spain-and...

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