A Nov. 19 19 story by CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/news) claims the U.S. dollar’s current weakness is making itself felt in a surprising arena: illegal drug trafficking.
According to “Loonie’s rise spurring cocaine sales in Canada: drug experts” (“loonie” is the Canadian nickname for its currency), cocaine dealers are favoring the euro as the primary trade currency for their product, and regions and countries with currencies that have strengthened vs. the buck, including Europe and Canada, are seeing higher than average levels of the white powder hit their shores.
Meanwhile, indicators suggest cocaine use in the U.S. is down. In the story, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent and a physician at a drug-testing company both offer evidence that cocaine prices in the States have gone up, purity has gone down, there are fewer emergency patients reporting cocaine use, and there is less cocaine in Americans’ urine.
That doesn’t mean the U.S. is about to lose its status as the No. 1 consumer of illegal drugs anytime soon, though. It still ingests approximately two-thirds of the world’s illicit substances.
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