Econ 101.2
It seems that regardless what externalities affect other parts of the US economy and cause some suppliers to cater to American consumers, there is still one industry that follows the textbook supply/demand curves to go where the money is.
Cocaine traffickers appear to be reacting to the rise of the Canadian dollar and the fall of the U.S. greenback, preferring Canadian and European markets to those in the U.S., say drug experts and medical officials.
For the first time in years, many American cities seem to be experiencing a cocaine shortage while experts say some Canadian cities — including Vancouver and Ottawa — say they're seeing more cocaine than ever.
. . .
But the surest sign of cocaine scarcity south of the border is a 44 per cent increase in the street price across the United States, where a pure gram now averages about $137 US, said American drug enforcement officials.
. . .
DEA officials said the large traffickers are turning away from the U.S. dollar, preferring to trade their cocaine for euros.
That's driven a surge of cocaine imports to Europe and evidence from the streets suggests the same thing may be happening in Canada.
Vancouver prices, for example, are substantially lower than those in the U.S., said Vancouver police Sgt. Steve McKenna, who works on the downtown drug squad.
"A street-level gram right now is about 80 bucks," he said.
Of course, the rise in the loonie is hurting some of our domestic producers, but the black market in drugs alone is worth at least $3-400 billion. And where that market goes in its search for wealth, the legitimate markets will follow.
