Summary

The Colombian navy intercepted a semi-submersible carrying cocaine in the Pacific, uncovering a new smuggling route to Australia.

The vessel, capable of traveling thousands of miles without refueling, was part of a lucrative operation targeting Australia, where cocaine fetches six times the U.S. price.

This was the third such vessel seized, with maps confirming the route.

The operation, part of the multinational “Orion” initiative, seized 225 tonnes of cocaine and arrested over 400 people globally.

Colombian authorities highlighted links between South American and Oceanian crime networks.

  • Laser@feddit.org
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    14 days ago

    Six times the price of coke in the US?

    I mean it makes sense because of logistics, but still.

    Never tried cocaine, but from what I heard it’s not really worth it, looking at price, effects on health, addiction potential etc while the high is just too short and not that great to begin with…

    People will now come out and say that proper coke is better but you can’t convince me. I’d rather try MDMA or DMT before touching coke

    • triptrapper@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Coke is absolutely overrated. It’s expensive, it doesn’t last very long, and even when it’s good it just feels like a high dose of Adderall. (I’ve done a lot of coke and taken a lot of Adderall.) In my experience, coke can be a party killer. People don’t want to share this expensive drug with everyone, so they separate from the group and do it in secret. And once I start, every 30 minutes I’m distracted and thinking about the next bump.

      MDMA and LSD are practically free compared to coke and alcohol. $10-20 and you’re set for the night.

      • Laser@feddit.org
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        13 days ago

        Issue with LSD is that it’s somewhat overwhelming, so not really something for parties, at least I can’t really imagine myself partying on it.

        2C-B on the other hand…

        • triptrapper@lemmy.world
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          13 days ago

          It depends on the batch, and you’d want to try it first to see how strong it is. Some batches are definitely overwhelming, but others are just a very clear, euphoric high and perfect for parties.

          • Paragone@lemmy.world
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            11 days ago

            I’ve a relative who began an unplanned LSD-trip while driving…

            I’ve been informed by a psychiatrist & medical-researcher ( my dad, but we … lived very separate lives, & didn’t get along ) that LSD’s stored in body-fat, so it can produce a flashback ANY time that THAT globule of fat gets metabolized…

            I’d prohibit people who’ve done LSD from EVER having a pilot’s license, & driver’s license … would have to be massively-justified.

            The others-on-the-road never consented to having LSD-users tripping-out in motor-vehicles, on the same road…

            We prohibit drunk-driving, shouldn’t we prohibit LSD-driving, too?

            & if LSD’s got inherent flashback capability, due to the way our biology can store it for later…

            shouldn’t that be considered in the public-safety law?

            Responsibility-archy isn’t identical with no-accountability/no-responsibility/narcissism’s-got-rights! paradigm, it’s true,

            but I’d rather that people either force-metabolize all their bodyfat, to remove LSD-flashback possibility, before getting their license, then just randomly lose-their-minds-chemically while piloting/driving…

            XOR, if they won’t eradicate the flashback-capability, then they don’t need to be piloting/driving, do they?

            _ /\ _

            • triptrapper@lemmy.world
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              11 days ago

              I’m not a medical researcher, but I can tell you that the random LSD flashback, as you’re describing, is not evidence-based. As with many drugs, LSD releases glutamate and can trigger psychosis in people predisposed to psychosis. This can lead people to believe that LSD is somehow being stored in their body and activated later on. Something similar may be happening when people have a bad experience smoking weed and insist it was “laced” with another drug. LSD is processed by the liver and isn’t “stored” anywhere, unless you count blood during the several hours before it’s fully metabolized. Also, we already prohibit LSD-driving. Driving recklessly while under the influence of a substance can get you arrested and get your license revoked.

              Please be careful about spreading misinformation.

              • Paragone@lemmy.world
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                7 days ago

                "Acute, short-lived reactions are often fairly benign, whereas chronic, unremitting courses carry a poor prognosis. Delayed, intermittent phenomena (“flashbacks”) and LSD-precipitated functional disorders that usually respond to treatment appropriate for the non-psychedelic-precipitated illnesses they resemble, round out this temporal means of classification. The question of organic brain damage as well as permanent changes in personality, attitudes, and creativity in patients and normals who have repeatedly ingested psychedelic drugs is controversial, but tends to point to subtle or nonsignificant changes. Future areas for study of the psychedelics’ pharmacological, psychological, and therapeutic effects are suggested. "

                which is from this scientific paper: https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/citation/1984/10000/adverse_reactions_to_psychedelic_drugs__a_review.1.aspx

                Claiming that flashbacks “is not evidence-based”, as you claim, is pseudoscientific disinformation, according to that paper’s abstract.

                Case closed.

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                • triptrapper@lemmy.world
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                  6 days ago

                  Just to review, your arguments that I’m labeling as non-evidence-based are:

                  1. LSD is stored in body fat
                  2. LSD can be released after the initial trip is over
                  3. When the LSD is released it can trigger a “flashback” during which the person is “tripping-out”
                  4. Because of this risk, anyone who has used LSD should be banned from operating a vehicle

                  You chose to quote an abstract from a 40-year-old lit review, and even though it doesn’t support your point, you’re declaring this “case closed.” You’re either arguing in bad faith or you’re not putting much effort into finding the truth. Either way I think you know your case is weak.

                  “Delayed, intermittent phenomena (“flashbacks”) and LSD-precipitated functional disorders that usually respond to treatment appropriate for the non-psychedelic-precipitated illnesses they resemble, round out this temporal means of classification.”

                  Strassman is summarizing the range of post-LSD experiences that have been reported. Delayed, intermittent psychosis is at one end of the range and mild, short-term symptoms at the other. He doesn’t validate those reports, and goes on to say that no causal relationship had been established, and the etiology of “flashbacks” was at that time controversial.

                  A more recent 2021 review by David Nutt et al. (Nutt is by most accounts the most credentialed and respected psychedelic researcher today) says:

                  A common perception linked to psychedelics is that they induce ‘flashbacks’ of the drug experience long after its acute effects have subsided. Although transient drug-free visual experiences resembling the effects of hallucinogens have been documented in psychedelic users (e.g. 40–60% of users; Baggott et al., 2011; Carhart-Harris and Nutt, 2010), they are not hallucinogen-specific, as they can also be caused by other psychoactive substances, for example, alcohol or benzodiazepines (Holland and Passie, 2011), and can occur in healthy populations (Halpern et al., 2016). In most cases, these side effects are mild and diminish in duration, intensity and frequency with time (Strassman, 1984).

                  If these symptoms are prolonged and distressing, the syndrome is known as HPPD. The DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 2013) reports a prevalence rate for HPPD as 4.2% in hallucinogen users (Baggott et al., 2011) based on a single online questionnaire. Other studies have documented much lower prevalence rates of the disorder, some as low as 1/50,000 (Grinspoon and Bakalar, 1979). Furthermore, if approximately 1/25 users experience HPPD as suggested by Baggott et al. (2011), then it would be a near statistical certainty that some participants in the current era of psychedelic research, which has collectively included thousands of participants in trials since 2000 (Carhart-Harris et al., 2021; Ross et al., 2016), would have experienced HPPD by now; however, this has not been the case.

                  However, the emergence of large online fora dedicated to the discussion of HPPD on websites, such as Reddit (e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/HPPD/, which has > 7000 members), suggests that cases can be identified at the population level, even if the prevalence is too low to be captured in clinical trials that typically use small sample sizes. While the large-scale data collection of online fora is helpful to gain insights into wider populations, samples are self-selected and likely to be biased, limiting the conclusions that can be drawn.

                  The incidence of HPPD appears to be much lower in the clinical context, perhaps as a result of efficient screening and preparation (Cohen, 1960; Johnson et al., 2008). Although Halpern and Pope (2003) suggest that there may be no identifiable risk factors for HPPD, a subsequent study of 19 individuals who developed HPPD found that all recalled anxiety and/or panic reactions during the triggering episode (Halpern et al., 2016). Thus, HPPD symptoms could potentially be conceived as a form of trauma response, similar to PTSD, or a form of health anxiety evoked by residual symptoms of the original experience.

                  I will say again that your original arguments are not supported by current research. I won’t spend any more time debating this with you because we don’t seem to have the same definitions of “evidence” and “misinformation.”

              • Paragone@lemmy.world
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                9 days ago

                I’m sticking to the facts I was given: that LSD can be stored in the body, in body-fat, & can be released later.

                IF I find ( and I will dig, later ) actual-research on the topic, then I’ll have better, more-trustworthy knowing.

                But until then, the doctor-&-researcher who told me that, & the other-person whose experience matches what that doctor-&-researcher told me, is what I’m sticking-to.

                I don’t willingly spread disinformation or misinformation, & am one hell of alot more rigorous than normal-people about that.

                Nearly 600 pages of results, unfortunately, with ZERO guarantee any 1 of those papers deals-with the question…

                https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=lysergic+acid+diethylamide

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                • triptrapper@lemmy.world
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                  9 days ago

                  I’m afraid that “repeating word-of-mouth information until it’s disproven” isn’t how the scientific method works, and wouldn’t be considered rigorous in the research community. I look forward to your findings.

    • OpenStars@piefed.social
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      14 days ago

      Maybe it’s like a nostalgia / luxury thing, like people showing off that they have it whereas all the poors cannot afford it. Our monkey brains aren’t always optimizing for efficiency among equals:-).

    • deranger@sh.itjust.works
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      13 days ago

      I think that math is fucked. Coke in the US is like 60-100 per gram, no way someone is paying 360-600 per gram in Australia.

      • 11111one11111@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        Idk anything about foreign coke prices but to play devils advocate, the US is ridiculously easy to get coke into from a logistics stand point. I agree both estimate ranges must be high but there is only so low the price could go to make it worth selling. I mean the cost to traverse across the fucking pacific compared to hoping across the gulf or digging a tunnel would have to be more than a 6x’s difference.

  • funkyfarmington@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    The first article about this said 2300 tons, the second, 1400, and this one 225?

    What is worse is the 2300 tons article implied that was seized from one sub. Do any of these dipshits know what a submarine hauling 2300 tons would look like? It would be as big as a container ship.

    At this rate we will learn its 2 dudes and a few k’s on a dingy!

    • yesman@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      If the cartels had their cargoes insured for loss we would know exactly what it was worth. But as it is now, the value of drugs is limited only by the imagination of the police in charge.

      I’ve seen pigs weigh entire marijuana plants, terracotta-pot and all, then multiply that figure by a “street value” that’s 10X what I’ve ever paid for premium bud. I’m convinced that many drug dealers go their start after seeing these inflated values advertised on TV.