Would a cashless society do away with drugs?

.jacksparrow.

If there was no hard cash anymore would this go a long way to getting rid of drugs.

All transactions done through cards could be easily monitored by authorities,plus the people buying drugs on the streets or nights out would be non existent.

Sauve

Where theres a will theres always a way..

Nichololas

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

If there was no hard cash anymore would this go a long way to getting rid of drugs.

All transactions done through cards could be easily monitored by authorities,plus the people buying drugs on the streets or nights out would be non existent.

Uh, no, it wouldn't go any way towards getting rid of drugs.

M cebee

i get mine online

Birneybau

Sure, some hookers take credit cards as it is (or so I've heard).

I'm sure it's pretty easy to fake sevices rendered

.jacksparrow.

It would be a big burden on the black market so don't see how it would be any different with drugs.

Ellis Dee

Never forget the immortal words of Freewheelin' Franklin of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers:

"Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope.";);););)

Lenin Skynard

Something else would become currency fairly quickly if such a system were brought in. Across the board that is, not just in the drug market.

Plus someone would figure out a way to override the technology five minutes after it's brought in.

Nodin

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

If there was no hard cash anymore would this go a long way to getting rid of drugs.

All transactions done through cards could be easily monitored by authorities,plus the people buying drugs on the streets or nights out would be non existent.

Some people want to get out of their skulls now and again. That's the root of the matter, and until that changes theres still going to be a drugs trade.

tunedout

Drugs company sets up a shop that sells bananas.

You get x grams of drugs in exchange for y kg of bananas.

Drugs company sells the bananas.

Problem solved.

dodderangler

I'm sure people would just work off their debts

aodhan2

Most junkies will sell their own mother for a hit . So no . They would just rob whatever they could get !

HowAreWe

Jlowbobs.

Pea 9

Whats to stop people going old school? A goat and 2 chickens should get you what you want

Schism

People are still going to want them and people are still going to provide them. A cashless society just means it's a harder to execute and hide the transaction, but it'll still most certainly take place. People will find a way.

It might lead to more bartering maybe?

Steodonn

bitcoin's worth would increase anyway :P

All ready ways to buy drugs without cash. I'd expect these to methods to become more popular

Steodonn

bitcoin's worth would increase anyway :P

All ready ways to buy drugs without cash. I'd expect these to methods to become more popular

danniemcq

you'd have to also clamp down on second hand sales.

For instance

hello mr drug dealing guy, i hear you are selling some of your old DVDs/consoles/books/sperm. Please take 50 quid for it, here you can transfer cash to your bank account via this swipe card or whatever

simples

Logical_Bear

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

If there was no hard cash anymore would this go a long way to getting rid of drugs.

All transactions done through cards could be easily monitored by authorities,plus the people buying drugs on the streets or nights out would be non existent.

You havent thought this through OP have you?

Wacker The Attacker

Go heisenberg

Wacker The Attacker

what about everything else?

Quazzie

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

what about everything else?

For Everything Else There's Mastercard!

This message has been sponsored by Mastecard © 1994-2012 MasterCard.

starviewadams

I should hope not!

TwoShedsJackson

Birneybau wrote: »

Sure, some hookers take credit cards as it is (or so I've heard).

What are they swiping the cards in?

Maruney

i get mine online

Yep...and pay for it through PayPal. No cash required.

Fromthetrees

OPs clearly never given hand jobs for crack, MJs and ZJs for a hot meal or licked a toe or two for a ciggie.

Some people just live in their own world.

ScumLord

Birneybau wrote: »

Sure, some hookers take credit cards as it is (or so I've heard).

Yeah, and they don't give them back either.

We already have disposable credit cards like 3V. Drug dealers would probably need to have internet access to do a drug deal but that's not such an issue anymore either. As long as there is a demand for drugs there will be an illegal drug trade, there will always be a demand.

Lord Trollington

Is this question for real. The length and breadth of the country the Gardai and other authorities know for the most part who is supplying and selling drugs. In my home town everyone knows who the drug dealers are. They are driving around in Audi a5 coupe all week, but collecting the dole on a Tuesday.

they do nothing about it because

1. They haven't got the resources
2. They are in on it themselves.
3. They haven't got enough evidence.
4. A mixture of 1,2 & 3 together.

Until there is a genuine attempt to stamp out drugs then its irrelevant what measure is brought in.

.jacksparrow.

Logical_Bear wrote: »

You havent thought this through OP have you?

I have put ample thought into this thank you very much!

Fishooks12

Lord Trollington wrote: »

Is this question for real. The length and breadth of the country the Gardai and other authorities know for the most part who is supplying and selling drugs. In my home town everyone knows who the drug dealers are. They are driving around in Audi a5 coupe all week, but collecting the dole on a Tuesday.

they do nothing about it because

1. They haven't got the resources
2. They are in on it themselves.
3. They haven't got enough evidence.
4. A mixture of 1,2 & 3 together.

Until there is a genuine attempt to stamp out drugs then its irrelevant what measure is brought in.

Yes the Gardai are known for being big players in the drug trade alright :rolleyes:

troll by name, troll by nature

kowloon

Pea 9 wrote: »

Whats to stop people going old school? A goat and 2 chickens should get you what you want

It would make the news more entertaining.

'Gardai have intercepted a drugs haul with a street value of over 900 goats and a small chicken.'

Lenin Skynard

DavidBrady38 wrote: »

great post there :rolleyes:

Still hurting from the incident in the shower with the Guard?

wilkie2006

tunedout wrote: »

Drugs company sets up a shop that sells bananas.

You get x grams of drugs in exchange for y kg of bananas.

Drugs company sells the bananas.

Problem solved.

I understand the concept (I assume you're talking about having a front) but I don't understand your example.

So you pay drug dealers in bananas? What?

wilkie2006

DavidBrady38 wrote: »

reported

Reported.

Lord Trollington

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Yes the Gardai are known for being big players in the drug trade alright :rolleyes:

troll by name, troll by nature

14,500 Gardai in the country. You reckon they are all clean?

sparksfly

The OP has made a very valid suggestion here and a lot of the arguments dont really make sense.

The addict is the primary source of revenue for the drug lords and generally has no access to other forms of payment apart from cash.
Cash is king for criminals, it can be moved around the world almost without trace. This is the sole reason that the illegal drug trade flourishes.The sheer quantity of cash that moves upwards from the users to the overlords is huge, billions of euro annually in Ireland alone.
Suddenly switching to another form of currency such as bartering or electronic transfer is not practical in reality.

Cashless society is not anywhere near us so the trade will continue for a long while yet.

mikom

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

If there was no hard cash anymore would this go a long way to getting rid of drugs.

All transactions done through cards could be easily monitored by authorities,plus the people buying drugs on the streets or nights out would be non existent.

Two words............... Ulster bank.

Real Life

but i like drugs

ScumLord

sparksfly wrote: »

The addict is the primary source of revenue for the drug lords and generally has no access to other forms of payment apart from cash.

Their going to have to have an alternative in a cashless society though. It's likely there will be ways to transfer money between two people or the system won't work.

Cash is king for criminals, it can be moved around the world almost without trace.

It can't be moved easily at all, large amounts of cash take up a lot of space and is just as difficult to transport as drugs. All that cash money ends up in banks and is transported that way. There are plenty of ways for criminals to move money around the banking system, once it gets into offshore accounts it disappears which is not the case with large piles of real world cash.

previous user

.jacksparrow. wrote: »

If there was no hard cash anymore would this go a long way to getting rid of drugs.

All transactions done through cards could be easily monitored by authorities,plus the people buying drugs on the streets or nights out would be non existent.

IT WOULD DO AWAY WITH THE F*CKING DOLE SPONGARS,
ARGGERGHHHH FUKIN
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!

Fishooks12

Lord Trollington wrote: »

14,500 Gardai in the country. You reckon they are all clean?

Obviously not. But you directly implied that there are a good number of them involved in drugs. I can't recall any case of this happening here.

It's not the departed you know

tdv123

sparksfly wrote: »

The OP has made a very valid suggestion here and a lot of the arguments dont really make sense.

The addict is the primary source of revenue for the drug lords and generally has no access to other forms of payment apart from cash.
Cash is king for criminals, it can be moved around the world almost without trace. This is the sole reason that the illegal drug trade flourishes.The sheer quantity of cash that moves upwards from the users to the overlords is huge, billions of euro annually in Ireland alone.
Suddenly switching to another form of currency such as bartering or electronic transfer is not practical in reality.

Cashless society is not anywhere near us so the trade will continue for a long while yet.

See that logical is flawed.

You seem to think if there's no more drug dealers than junkies will no longer want drugs.

What definitely would happen is there would be more people trying forge prescriptions & more Pharmacy robberies which would almost certainly lead to a lot of people getting hurt.

1ZRed

People would just trade sex for drugs.


Like the good old days.

ScumLord

tdv123 wrote: »

See that logical is flawed.

You seem to think if there's no more drug dealers than junkies will no longer want drugs.

What definitely would happen is there would be more people trying forge prescriptions & more Pharmacy robberies which would almost certainly lead to a lot of people getting hurt.

And more of the nasty drugs like solvent abuse, meth and anything else that could be cooked up in a bathtub.

Nichololas

sparksfly wrote: »

The OP has made a very valid suggestion here and a lot of the arguments dont really make sense.

I'd say it's more of a valid suggestion with absolutely no basis in reality.

sparksfly wrote: »

The addict is the primary source of revenue for the drug lords and generally has no access to other forms of payment apart from cash.
Cash is king for criminals, it can be moved around the world almost without trace. This is the sole reason that the illegal drug trade flourishes.

The illegal drug trade is flourishing. The legal drug trade is flourishing. The grey-market drug trade is also flourishing. People like drugs, end of. The product, not the method of payment is the reason the illegal drugs trade is 'flourishing', and saying otherwise is naive. To give a (bad) analogy using the purchasing of music; it does not matter how convenient the method of payment is (itunes, paypal, etc compared to searching bins of vinyl in a small store), if I don't like -the music- then I won't buy it, will I.

sparksfly wrote: »

The sheer quantity of cash that moves upwards from the users to the overlords is huge, billions of euro annually in Ireland alone.
Suddenly switching to another form of currency such as bartering or electronic transfer is not practical in reality.

Cashless society is not anywhere near us so the trade will continue for a long while yet.

If only there were some way to remove the revenue streams from these mobsters.. :rolleyes:

UCDVet

It can't be done.

First - bartering will always be a defecto currency when there is no alternative. 'Here's an iPad - give me drugs!' would work.

Second - you can't stop things like BitCoin...at least until quantum computers solve all our computational problems or someone solves all of the computationally 'hard' math problems. Encryption will work, and using encryption things like Tor and BitCoin will exist. That is, untraceable, digital, currencies with actual value, that people will trade for real goods. That cat is out of the bag, and we can't put it back in (at least not anytime in the foreseeable future)

Third - lots of drugs can be created. You don't need to 'buy' them. Most people buy them because it's easier/better quality. If you banned alcohol - people would start making their own beer and own liquor (although some people enjoy doing it). Lots of drugs can be grown and some can be cooked. I wouldn't bother because I'm lazy - but in a pinch - I'd be tempted to try.

Fourth - most people *drastically* underestimate/ignore the amount of 'prescription drug abuse' there is. It's really, really easy to get drugs for just about anything these days...there are paper trails and insurance and everything else....so this supports the idea that documentation of the purchase would not prevent drug abuse. At best, it's likely to shift the drugs of choice. There are lots of people with chronic conditions that just enjoy the pills.

Fifth - You'd have to piss all over any concept of personal privacy.

Sixth - You'd need a massive infrastructure to scan everyone spending habits and report suspicious behaviour. You'd also have drug deals/criminal organizations who setup businesses (guess what - they already do). So, instead of paying 100 euro for some drugs - you'd go into a pub and pay 100 euro for some legal drug, but you wouldn't consume the alcohol - you'd get your drugs and leave. So, the paper trail alone would be ineffective. You'd still need all the same types of policing you need now to verify that transactions are legit....all you are doing is raising the barrier of entry. If someone wants to sell drugs they only need apply for a business license and fill out some papers.....easy as pie.

sparksfly

Nichololas wrote: »

I'd say it's more of a valid suggestion with absolutely no basis in reality.



The illegal drug trade is flourishing. The legal drug trade is flourishing. The grey-market drug trade is also flourishing. People like drugs, end of. The product, not the method of payment is the reason the illegal drugs trade is 'flourishing', and saying otherwise is naive.
To give a (bad) analogy using the purchasing of music; it does not matter how convenient the method of payment is (itunes, paypal, etc compared to searching bins of vinyl in a small store), if I don't like -the music- then I won't buy it, will I.





If only there were some way to remove the revenue streams from these mobsters.. :rolleyes:

I would argue that the method of payment is paramount to the success of the illegal drugs trade, as it is to most black market activity. People are reluctant to pay for (or accept payment) for any illegal goods or services other than in cash.
Even Bertie knew the advantages of having no bank a/c. His cash transactions were all but impossible to figure out.

Comparing it to music downloads is nonsense. Legal suppliers will obviously accept many types of payment to those who want their product, their customers have access to those options.
People who download illegally generally do it without any payment, the type of payment is irrelevant.

A large proportion of drug users and dealers (I accept not all) do not have access to any other options than cash.

ScumLord

sparksfly wrote: »

A large proportion of drug users and dealers (I accept not all) do not have access to any other options than cash.

Even in a cashless society they will find a way, like I've already pointed out cashless doesn't mean completely monitored, there will still be ways of making payments without the government knowing about it.

UCDVet

sparksfly wrote: »

I would argue that the method of payment is paramount to the success of the illegal drugs trade, as it is to most black market activity. People are reluctant to pay for (or accept payment) for any illegal goods or services other than in cash.
Even Bertie knew the advantages of having no bank a/c. His cash transactions were all but impossible to figure out.

Comparing it to music downloads is nonsense. Legal suppliers will obviously accept many types of payment to those who want their product, their customers have access to those options.
People who download illegally generally do it without any payment, the type of payment is irrelevant.

A large proportion of drug users and dealers (I accept not all) do not have access to any other options than cash.

Maybe the very-most bottom-feeders in the drug trade...but for anyone else? Come'on.

It cost me *nothing* to setup my first Google Checkout account; and that let me take credit card payments over the internet. I was selling some crappy software I wrote for $5.00 and Google took something like $0.50 for doing it...so I was left with roughly $4.50 into my bank account.

I was selling software. A digital copy of something has no intrinsic value.

It would be REALLY, REALLY, REALLY easy for a drug dealer to do exactly what I did and accept credit card payments. Google Checkout is just one of an endless supply of places you can go to do it.

Instead of cash - you'd just pay online then go to meet your drug dealer. If you wanted to be really fancy, you'd meet the drug dealer, check out the goods, then pay via your iPhone. In seconds the transaction would be processed and 'officially' you just purchased an e-book or an mp3.

The drug dealer is now a writer/musician/artist/software developer and the business appears legit.

And it's easy enough to purchase pre-paid credit cards - so the buyer doesn't risk exposing his or her identity.

ArtSmart

Would a cashless society do away with drugs?

Yes, of course.


Now, the important thing is that you get home safely and that you have someone in the room with you.
Is there someone with you now?

charlemont

I'd get around that problem by renting a small greenhouse ...