An End to Drug Trafficking

[Sunsphere]

With modern technology to safeguard privacy and protect against identity theft, there is no reason why we couldn’t put an end to illegal drug trafficking, whether it be international, interstate, or on school campuses. Why we haven’t seen this proposed before is beyond me. All we have to do is institute a worldwide cashless society by eliminating cash flow facilitated by paper bills or coin as the means for monetary transactions. Again, with modern technology it should be a snap!

 

Secure servers are already available, and if all commerce was only facilitated by means of monetary transference through electronic personal debit or deposit transactions, there would be no way to exchange drugs for monetary gain without it being accessible by authorities or account administrators. You couldn’t “sell” a drug on school campuses for a cash gain! Any exchange of goods for monetary gain could only be transacted by means of making an entry on a secure electronic server of goods sold with an electronic transfer of purchasing funds.

 

This would not only put an end to illegal drug trafficking, it would virtually put and end to all theft, whether stealing personal property, embezzlement, or robbery. There would be no reason to steal personal property, or anything else, because there could be no monetary gain. There would be no way to exchange what was stolen for monetary gain without making an entry that would be accessible by authorities. You could steal a few TV’s, but you can only have a few in your home, so what would be the gain? The same for purse snatching or pickpockets, there would be no cash to acquire!

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Supposing you labeled the drug transactions as "baby-sitting fees" in the electronic system. How would the authorities know it was really drugs?

[Moontanman]

With modern technology to safeguard privacy and protect against identity theft, there is no reason why we couldn’t put an end to illegal drug trafficking, whether it be international, interstate, or on school campuses. Why we haven’t seen this proposed before is beyond me. All we have to do is institute a worldwide cashless society by eliminating cash flow facilitated by paper bills or coin as the means for monetary transactions. Again, with modern technology it should be a snap!

 

So you would stop all private transactions of cash to stop people from using drugs? How about alcohol and tobacco? Far more people die from alcohol and tobacco than illegal drugs, almost 30 to one.

 

http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30

 

Secure servers are already available, and if all commerce was only facilitated by means of monetary transference through electronic personal debit or deposit transactions, there would be no way to exchange drugs for monetary gain without it being accessible by authorities or account administrators. You couldn’t “sell” a drug on school campuses for a cash gain! Any exchange of goods for monetary gain could only be transacted by means of making an entry on a secure electronic server of goods sold with an electronic transfer of purchasing funds.

 

There are easy ways around this as the Captain pointed out.

 

This would not only put an end to illegal drug trafficking, it would virtually put and end to all theft, whether stealing personal property, embezzlement, or robbery. There would be no reason to steal personal property, or anything else, because there could be no monetary gain. There would be no way to exchange what was stolen for monetary gain without making an entry that would be accessible by authorities. You could steal a few TV’s, but you can only have a few in your home, so what would be the gain? The same for purse snatching or pickpockets, there would be no cash to acquire!

 

You could also legalize drugs and stop them being from being sold by anyone other than special stores like ABC stores here in NC. You'll not see many bottles of jack Daniels being sold in schools or moonshine either because it's easier and legal to get it at the liquor store. Anyone who gives drugs or alcohol to minors would still be in violation of the law.

 

Even with no cash I think the barter system would still allow people to steal and profit by it. You are assuming everyone is honest and no one wants stolen property.

 

The demand for recreational drugs is immense, i have no doubt some one would find away around this big time.

[zapatos]

If there is no cash, how will people in areas of the world with no networks/phones/electricity/etc. purchase things?

[Mr Skeptic]

So, how do you plan to get rid of cash? Even if there is no government backed cash, there's nothing to stop others from making their own cash system purely for black market purposes. Back in the day, cash was made by individuals, you know.

[Phi for All]

This would not only put an end to illegal drug trafficking, it would virtually put and end to all theft, whether stealing personal property, embezzlement, or robbery. There would be no reason to steal personal property, or anything else, because there could be no monetary gain. There would be no way to exchange what was stolen for monetary gain without making an entry that would be accessible by authorities. You could steal a few TV’s, but you can only have a few in your home, so what would be the gain? The same for purse snatching or pickpockets, there would be no cash to acquire!

But in your new system, you'd have to have a way to credit your account when you sold something. With no cash, we'd need a cheap and easy way to put money back in your account when you have a garage sale, or sell your car. Barter would be more prevalent so who would know how many TVs you decided to take on so you could trade them for credit or trade them for a used treadmill? I don't think it would stop crime much unless everything was coded from the manufacturer, requiring more laws about uncoded transactions.

 

And think of this: if there was no cash, all your credit would be stored on cards, and those cards get stolen all the time. A paperless economy would probably require you to have your account numbers tattooed somewhere on your body, somewhere it couldn't be chopped off and used.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Phi for All
clarification

[padren]

It would be far too invasive honestly. You are talking about seriously limiting the options of good, law abiding citizens for nothing more than to try and catch drug traffickers.

 

As already mentioned, barter and mislabeling would drastically reduce the effectiveness. Organized crime has already worked around all the high tech equipment that has completely changed the world in the last 80 years or so - they have a profit motive to continue to do so. The only people really hurt would be the law abiding citizens it's not supposed to target.

 

Then you get into the need to audit records in order to identify potential irregularities - to make use of such a system, there would be huge pressure to erode privacy rights.

 

And, on top of all of that: How exactly are you supposed to pay for anything while in Haiti, or the Dominican Republic, or any other nation where electricity is intermittent? They will have their own currencies - they won't want to go digital, are you going to exchange with their currencies? If so, they become major money laundering centers, supporting exactly the kind of business those places don't need more of.

[rigney]

Our judicial and penal systems are so passé in this country that nothing will make a dent in drug traffiking other than absolution to include the Catholic version of: "Last Rites". And this, to both the offender, and the offender. Same thing should apply to Rapist, Habitual Thieves and Murderers. Don't get me wrong folks, this is only a thought? But our prisons are overrun and have simply become Rest Havens, "Snicker Joints" and a place for criminals to convalesce, while getting ready to commit more crime; and at our expense.

[Sunsphere]

Supposing you labeled the drug transactions as "baby-sitting fees" in the electronic system. How would the authorities know it was really drugs?

 

Most drug deals involve a lot more than a baby sitting fee. And even if that was done often enough, authorities would have a just reason to call for taxes on wages.

[Moontanman]

No, most drug deals are just a few dollars, it makes far more sense to legalize drugs and actually control them than it does to try and lock everyone up and destroy our monetary system to stop what is ultimately a crime that only hurts the people who break the law.

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Our judicial and penal systems are so passé in this country that nothing will make a dent in drug traffiking other than absolution to include the Catholic version of: "Last Rites". And this, to both the offender, and the offender. Same thing should apply to Rapist, Habitual Thieves and Murderers. Don't get me wrong folks, this is only a thought? But our prisons are overrun and have simply become Rest Havens, "Snicker Joints" and a place for criminals to convalesce, while getting ready to commit more crime; and at our expense.

 

So you think people who do drugs should be killed? Or is it just the people who sell them? making criminals out of other wise solid citizens is not the way to control drugs, many of the drugs we fight came into being only because recreational drugs are illegal. Things like meth or crack were created to get around drug laws (meth is easy to make) and make it easier to smuggle due to crack being concentrated.

 

Draconian Drug laws drive black market forces that just exacerbate the situation.

[Phi for All]

Most drug deals involve a lot more than a baby sitting fee. And even if that was done often enough, authorities would have a just reason to call for taxes on wages.

Well, we've seen what 40 years of trying to wage war on drugs has accomplished. If you want to tax anything, tax the drugs themselves and make them legal. Save money on prisons. Force the criminals to go legal; let them be the ones who continue to provide the drugs so they won't start up some other menace to society. They won't get as much money for the drugs but they won't have to pay for all the hiding from the cops so it's a wash. As long as we don't allow advertising of the drugs, I think it would be a worthwhile experiment.

 

Let's start with marijuana and see what happens.

 

I just don't think we can work without cash. The paperless economy thing is too scary. It's already too easy to track private citizens. Imagine how easy it'll be with a bar code on your forehead.

[rigney]

Bar code?? Touche!, Phi. But yu' gotta be careful. Some of us out there still don't rely "totally" on welfare.

Edited June 10, 2010 by rigney

[Double K]

A good portion of societal problems can be attributed to criminalising "petty" criminals. You're throwing people into prison that have a social problem that often doesn't even directly affect anyone other than themself. It's like throwing an epileptic in prison because he was disturbing the peace when he had an attack, and people saw it and it made them feel awkward.

 

Ok the analogy has its flaws, but hopefully the message gets thru, why are we putting people in prison for petty crime (such as possession, or even minor trafficing offenses?)

You're exposing them to much harder criminals who then recruit them, train them and not to mention the myriad other problems of time spent in prison.

That's an issue for another thread, however.

 

An inherent problem with a completely electronic money system is that it's terrible vulnerable to error, abuse, misuse and malfunction.

 

Imagine a government (or worse a financial institution) that can (right or wrong) freeze all your assets, perhaps mistakenly. The level of control afforded to all the wrong people is unfathomable.

 

Money, by definition, needs an intrinsic value. It's all but gone these days with our FIAT money system, however having a 'physical' property gives it some intrinsic value. Digital credits to me are one of the most terrible and terrifying transitions we have been creeping along for the past 20 years.

 

Needless to say this wont stop drug trafficing, and besides how will governments get their black budgets? Also, America and Britain might aswell just pull right out of iraq immediately if this was the case, as, what do we need poppy fields for?

 

Drugs would still be traded for something. As mentioned earlier a barter system would arise, and something or other would be used to pay for the drug.