I’m a big believer in the economic importance of scientific progress, and it seems Columbian drug lords agree with me. BBC news reports that anti-drug operatives say cocaine growers in Columbia have used advcanced genetic engineering techniques to develop cocaine plants with eight times increased production.
Let’s take that one apart: the “war on drugs” is so effective that the illegal drug industry can use cutting-edge technology to develop more productive plants to meet demand and maximize profit. It makes me proud of capitalism and technology at the same time.
Last year agents found the Columbian drug merchants were building an advanced submarine capable of moving industrial quantities of cocaine to the US. It was a marvel of engineering, technologically comparable to its military counterparts.
Do you think we need a different strategy to curtail drug use? Or at least to disconnect it from the criminal element?
Here’s another thought: anti-GM agriculture protesters are trying to stuff the agricultural genetic modification genie back in the bottle by pushing for restrictive laws. They’re afraid that GM plant genes could begin to affect wild plants and cause an ecological disaster. Let’s hope they’re wrong, because GM agriculture is here, like it or not.
Well, here’s a free plot for any aspiring novelist: GM protesters trying to at least promote safety standards in agricultural research help drug lords steal advanced equipment for assessing the ecological safety of the drug crop. A drug agent must infiltrate the protesters, aware he may be helping trigger an ecological disaster by stopping them.
Hey, it makes at least as much sense as The Day After Tomorrow. 