How is the street value of drugs calculated?

simu

(Can't think of anywhere else to put this)

stevenmu

Usually the maximum possible value I think, i.e. if they seize 100,000 tablets they give the cost of one tablet X 100,000, in terms of weighted drugs they would similarly break it down to what ever the average sold weight and price is. It's more dramatic than giving the value of it as a bundle.

Easygainer

It depends what the drug is. Here are the relevant factors:

1 - the laws relating to that drug determine its price. For instance, lax laws on cannabis mean lower price because there is less risk, and vice versa.

2 - the risk of importing it. Some places are easy to smuggle through. Like Europe. But getting coke from a major coke country like Columbia or Bolivia is a different story - private jets don't fly that distance so someone has to get a big pay day for bringing it in.

3 - the demand.

4 - the method of manufacture. Making coke is a lot more difficult than hash or lsd.

5 - the number of people it's gone through to get to you

There are more factors like the amount of ppl bringing it in etc, but I gather it's $1000 (US) to get a kilo of coke in Columbia and it sells street price for E50 per gram that's about 50% pure (so 10000% mark up). It probably costs about 10000 to get it here...

Odd thread!

juno75

supply and demand I should think?

Prices are farily static for particular substances - cannibis

E's just seem to drop and drop in price as the country is flooded with em. Years ago the could be 10-15 quid, now they are a couple of euro.
Scary for the kids I think in terms of avalibility and price. Its more expensive to go to the cenima ffs.

Coke seems to get more pricey as it get s more prevalent.
Talkin to mates who partake- deals have mutated from buying a gram in a bag for maybe €70 into 'One-er' bags - One being one hundred,regardless of how much you actally get in the bag...

-Discalmer-
This is pure speculation and I would have no first hand experiance

evad_lhorg

its thirty euro a 1/4. 50 - 60 for a half. thats all you need to know.

simu

Uh, no. It would be great if sb had a link to an official explanation!

pickarooney

Do you mean
a) how do street dealers know how much to charge for their wares or
b) how do they arrive at the fantastical figures the use for drugs "with a street value of x trillion pounds" in news reports?

Assuming it's b), they use the largest known price for the smallest possible saleable amount, multiply it by the quantity seized and then triple it.

pickarooney

evad_lhorg wrote:

its thirty euro a 1/4. 50 - 60 for a half. thats all you need to know.

I could never understand these amounts. What are halves and quarters in grams?

simu

pickarooney wrote:

I could never understand these amounts. What are halves and quarters in grams?

Ditto! Time to go metric!

I meant how the police calculate street value for news reports btw.

MooShop

its amazing the amount of people who know the answer to the question

MiniMetro

evad_lhorg wrote:

its thirty euro a 1/4. 50 - 60 for a half. thats all you need to know.

You're getting done mate, never over €25

evad_lhorg

its the weed that youll get in grams ya see.

aye i get it for 20-25 tbh but most people who sell sell 1/4 for 30.

Sleepy

I reckon they take the number of the house they find the drugs in and add six zeros.

So if they raided my house and found my stash, my mother'd see a report on the news saying that I'd been caught with drugs with a street value of €5,000,000

amazingemmet

Easygainer wrote:

the method of manufacture. Making coke is a lot more difficult than hash or lsd.

I have to disagree making coke from base chemicals is not as hard as lsd but all coke as far as i know is extracted from cocoa leaves hich is a relatively easy extraction.

back on topic the guards give the maximum retail value possible and also take into account how much something can be 'cut' to give their value

Boggle

Try this (free) game and you'll learn everything you need to know...

http://dopewars.sourceforge.net/

Easygainer

amazingemmet wrote:

I have to disagree making coke from base chemicals is not as hard as lsd but all coke as far as i know is extracted from cocoa leaves hich is a relatively easy extraction.

back on topic the guards give the maximum retail value possible and also take into account how much something can be 'cut' to give their value

Not quite that easy! Watch the special feature in "Blow" and you'll get an idea of the labs they need to use!

Wertz

simu wrote:

Ditto! Time to go metric!

I meant how the police calculate street value for news reports btw.

Simple really. It's already been explained.
The cops will take the weight/amount of the contraband seized, break it down into it's smallest "deal" size...in terms of cannabis resin they still use €10 deals even though you simply don't get any less than an 1/8 Oz being sold anymore.

For instance, gardaí seize 20 kilogrammes of resin in a raid. Now the wholesale price of that is in and around 40 grand. But break the 20 kilos into €10 deals and you get 16 "tendeals" to the ounce, 36 oz to a kilo.
16*36*20=11520 "tendeals" which equates to €115,200 street value....bit more than 40K eh?

As already discussed they still put a ballpark figure of €10 per pill even though in most places they go for much less.

They do this for all drugs and cocaine is about the only one they're accurate about, siunce the global value of cocaine remains moreorless constant, and it is still sold in small portions like grammes.

I have a big problem with how street value estimates are reported; it's propagandist on behalf of the gardaí IMO. Most drugs never get cut down to the street value figures.


BTW 28 grammes to 1 imperial Ounce, 36 ounces to the kilo.

LadyJ

I don't know but my dealer once tried to explain to me that there are five eighths in an ounce!

Wertz

LadyJ wrote:

I don't know but my dealer once tried to explain to me that there are five eighths in an ounce!

Was this when they were trying to sell you an "ounce"?
Sounds like they need to cut down on sampling the goods...

LadyJ

Wertz wrote:

Was this when they were trying to sell you an "ounce"?
Sounds like they need to cut down on sampling the goods...

No I wasn't buying anything at the time. We were just having a discussion.
He's just that stupid. Doesn't get fractions etc.
Poor guy must get ripped off a hell of a lot himself! :rolleyes:

John R

amazingemmet wrote:

I have to disagree making coke from base chemicals is not as hard as lsd but all coke as far as i know is extracted from cocoa leaves hich is a relatively easy extraction.

Cocaine comes from the coca plant. Cocoa is the plant chocolate is made from.

FranknFurter

LOL
Jeez, if thats what just a bit of weed is going for now, if i sold the contents of *my* medicine drawers alone id be a friggin millionaire!!.......


hmmmmmm.................

jonny68

Take Ecstasy for example the garda estimate that people still pay €10 for a pill(some dumbos probably do :rolleyes: ) where in fact if you buy a large amount you can get them for less than €2 a pill,and thesedays the normal price is around €5 a pill..itsthe same as every other drug the garda trying to make it sound good to the unsuspecting public always put a much much bigger figure on what the actual real value is :rolleyes:

jonny68

juno75 wrote:

supply and demand I should think?

Prices are farily static for particular substances - cannibis

E's just seem to drop and drop in price as the country is flooded with em. Years ago the could be 10-15 quid, now they are a couple of euro.
Scary for the kids I think in terms of avalibility and price. Its more expensive to go to the cenima ffs.

Coke seems to get more pricey as it get s more prevalent.
Talkin to mates who partake- deals have mutated from buying a gram in a bag for maybe €70 into 'One-er' bags - One being one hundred,regardless of how much you actally get in the bag...

-Discalmer-
This is pure speculation and I would have no first hand experiance

Your spot on about E's but Coke is most certainly not getting more expensive and i know of no one thesedays unlike years ago who actually sells grams,its all one-er (€100) bags thesedays which is in and around 2 grams and usually ****e(unless you know someone way up the drugs ladder and get stuff that hasnt been cut)there's so much of it about thesedays and so many people selling it that inevitably the proce will drop,if you know someone you can get a one-er bag for €80 on occasions

horsesnout

They value e's at even more than that, they make them £10 IEP which is €12.70

so..

1000 Pills in real life = €1400 approx
1000 Pills in Garda land = €12,700


Scary when you consider that once the value goes over 10,000 they can put someone away for 7 years mandatory.
But hey it makes for a great caption in the herald :rolleyes:

Wertz

horsesnout wrote:

Scary when you consider that once the value goes over 10,000 they can put someone away for 7 years mandatory.
But hey it makes for a great caption in the herald :rolleyes:

Just to add to the frivolity; if they catch you with what the statute books consider an amount suitable for sale and supply, you can be arrested and held for 7 days without charge...
Bear in mind that someone suspected of murder can be held only for 12, and then a further 12 on application to the courts. Heck, under the offences against the state act, they can only hold you for 48 hours for suspected terrorist activity or involvement.
So nice to see where our legal system lays it's priorities...