Augillo Un Informacio Chenne!Legislative Assembly Allows for Export of Cocaine!
Welcome everyone. Tonight we bring you an in-depth report of the causes and effects of a recent motion which allows for the exportation of fermented and processed cocão leaves - better known as cocaine.
The law, which is technically an amendment to a law passed in 1973, changes prior legislation to now allow for the production and foreign sale of the product, while still keeping illegal the domestic sale and import. Shortly following the legislative move, President Jack Peresque, alongside Chief of Staff Antonio DeLoroza and National Chief of Police Vidali de Ruise on behalf of the executive branch, officially declared temporary amnesty for cocaine distilleries operating in Inyursta to register and become legal businesses. This is part of a three-sided measure to free up manpower and resources in law enforcement to better combat poaching and other internal contrabands, to cut back costly and inefficient "leaf monitoring" legal actions, as well as to take power away from illegal traffickers and underground growers.
However, to truly understand the causes and potential effects of this radical change in a complex geopolitical matter, we must dive deeper into who and what runs the drug trade in Inyursta...
Cocão plantations like this are already legal entities.
However, many groups used legitimate businesses as fronts for harvesting cocão
leaves, which can be fermented to create cocaine.Special police and National Guard units have been waging a
relentless war on the illegal drug trade in recent decades.
First, it is imperative to understand that cocão is grown legally, as it is the source of chocolate as well as a fruity delicacy in of itself. The leaves are also available for purchase, though this is mostly a local market. However, there is a process of fermentation and added chemicals which produce the famous white powder - and further steps to crystallize it into crack-cocaine. Previous Inyurstan efforts to stop the production of cocaine were to hunt and destroy remote distilleries deep in the jungles and rural countryside, as well as to have officials do "leaf checks" - which involved monitoring the density of the cocão plants to attempt to discover any front companies skinning the leaves for distillation and sale to traffickers. These attempts were obviously quite unsucessful, and resulted in a large strain on both local and federal budgets.
Now, with this costly burdens removed in favor of a large excise tax on cocaine exports, law enforcement will be able to better focus on battling the domestic sale of narcotics, as well as operations to wipe out the poaching industry that plagues Inyursta's protected lands and waterways.
The other belief behind legalization of the export is that it will give those already involved in the business a safer and easier alternative to sell their product - by utilizing the ports to legally move their product instead of having to cross the Sierra Polaches, Meridian Rainforest or the waters between Inyursta, Cuscatlan and other regional states. This strategy to get the drug trade to "move east" ideally should also help curb the narcotics trafficking industry in Cuscatlan. Additionally, the reduction of illegal armed groups in favor of legitimate industry will help coax the vigilante organization CADI (who has been waging an outlaw war against the cartels) towards general disarmament, as the lack of enemies should lead toward a lack of a pressing cause following the decline of leftist rebel groups and now what would be the drug cartels.
To help comprehend the effects and ramifications of this move, our own correspondent Tanya Fuentes sat down with Jean-Lupo Baptise, a former underground trafficker who has since sought amnesty for his previously illegal actions.
Jean-Lupo Baptiste
Reporter Tanya Fuentes
Tanya: So Jean-Lupo, you were a leiutenant in a drug-running operation?
Jean-Lupo: Yes. I managed the transfer of the product from Topoguya west into the Southern Territories, where it was then moved west across the border.
Tanya: And were you otherwise involved in the cocão industry?
Jean-Lupo: Yes ma'am. I was also a shift manager for a local plantation. We would skim the leaves off the trees, often we would break the off smaller branches to get several peices of cocão fruit off the trees and simply toss the leaves into a specific trash can which was "emptied" at the end of the day.
Tanya: So what did you ever think your actions would hurt people on the other end of the line?
Jean-Lupo: Yeah, occasionally. Mostly the bystanders on the trail though, on the way from América Libré to the so-called "developed world"; but the consumers are the ones making the demand. You can't blame skinny man in the jungle for making a few extra greens so some fat man up north can get high, can you?
Tanya: So in your opinion, what will it take to end the drug violence?
Jean-Lupo: Nothing. Nothing will end it. Don't get me wrong, this change will pull small-time processors and traffickers away from the larger illegal organizations; but so long as there are spoiled rich bastards in the civilized world give us an incentive to keep making the stuff, people like me will keep looking for ways to fill their demand for cheaper and powerful people in the shadows will build underground empires off of it. Honestly, I'd say fuck'em. If fat, gay, gringo, baby-killers in the "1st World" wanna kill themselves on some white powder let them - but so long as the have the demand there will be blood to fill the supply.
I'm just happy it keeps most of the violence away from my corner of the world...
Tanya: Thank you for, your time, Mr. Baptise.
This move has also drawn criticism from both social-conservatives on the right and members of left, despite a majority support from all other factions. Social conservatives feel the move - despite still taking measures to keep it off our own streets - inherently endorses the use of harmful narcotics so long as it's not in our own soil, and is a result of vengeful motives. Meanwhile those on the left believe that this is part of a quote "poorly veiled plot to get citizens of nations unjustly labeled as hostile to get high while Big Agriculture makes more money" and claim that this motion was passed with the support and influence of large industrial lobbyists. Still, most political groups support this group, and so far a referendum seems unlikely - albeit possible - due to recent polls finding that most Inyurstans could care less for or against this measure.
Many also argue this will have little effect on the violence, as traffickers will still make money moving the product to nations where it is illegal. In addition, cocão is an exclusively warm-weather plant that cannot tolerate even occasional low temperatures, which means that it will continue to be grown in tropical nations and thus give cartels and narco-warlords a foot in the game for a long time to come...
As you can see this is a complex issue, and no solution fits all causes and outcomes.
We will keep you updated on the ongoing effects of this legislation throughout Inyursta and around the world...
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