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The type of people who go into illegal drug business are most likely from a certain class or neighborhood. They have first hand experience with the trade. Crime can be found in any industry, the drug trade is illegal to begin with so only violent criminals get in.
The illegal drug trade in the inner city is so violent because of the legacy of deindustrialization, poverty, fatherlessness, welfare dependence, neglect, poor schools, lack of parental guidance and easy access to guns and overabundance of alcohol. Alcohol, drugs and guns are a deadly mix but these things are hallmarks of life in the illegal drug trade in the inner city. You have to remember Uncle Sam imports tons of dope into the inner city as a form of population control. After the race riots of the 60's, white America got scared at the sheer rage shown by downtrodden blacks in every major city in America. History repeats itself. What happened in Detroit, Baltimore, DC and Oakland in the 60's is happening today in Ferguson. Ferguson used to be nearly 70% white in 1990, now Ferguson is nearly 70% black and they're having race riots there. Next comes the dope, guns and population control. Mark my words.
Kids in the hood who are not loved turn cold. The story of Robert Yummy Sandifer, an 11 year old murderer from the infamous Black Disciples who was gunned down in his native Chicago in 1994 sums up this story best. Yummy was the son of a prostitute who grew up forgotten and neglected in his grandmother's house around ten of his aunts and uncles and thirty of his siblings and cousins. That turned him into a thug. Like the late great Tupac Shakur said "Thug Life" is an acronym for "the hate you gave little infants f*cks everyone". There are many Yummies in every ghetto in America.
Also, the underworld is so violent because it consists of people who were shut out of regular jobs and a regular life for whatever reason. In the inner cities, structural employment, no shot at a decent education and institutional racism are common culprits. Being shut out of mainstream society will turn anyone into a sociopath capable of murder. When college educated white kids from the suburbs can't get a job at Walmart, let alone a good job, what do you think black kids in the hood are going through? In places in Baltimore, you can't even find an ATM for five miles and there are blocks and blocks of nothing but abandoned rowhomes with seedy liquor stores and dive bars on every corner. But Uncle Sam gives you just enough money to forget about your troubles to get high and drunk off of cheap liquor every two weeks. And the drug trade offers uneducated unskilled unemployed young men a shot at becoming rich quick attaining all the shiny plastic crap we are told we need like new Jordans and Porsches so maybe we can get some attention from the prettier ladies. Most low wage jobs are impossible to live off of anyway. Why work for $8 an hour when you can make $500+ a day selling drugs? When there is large sums of money at stake in the drug game, heads will roll.
Last edited by LunaticVillage; 03-22-2015 at 01:13 PM..
There is probably more violence connected to the drug trade, because as other posters point out, it is more inherently territorial. But any enterprise that is illegal obviates going to court to resolve disputes, so disputes will be resolved via violence.
When is the last time you heard of beer truck drivers getting into a shootout? Under prohibition, it was commonplace.
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Originally Posted by LunaticVillage
...Also, the underworld is so violent because it consists of people who were shut out of regular jobs and a regular life for whatever reason...
I largely agree wiith LunaticVillage's whole post. I add in that the illegal drug industry just needs a court system. The seller could then go to court, get a judgment against Joe for not paying his coke bill, and garnish his wages if he doesn't pay. There wouldn't be the immediacy of an old-fashioned beat-down, but Joe and his friends will still get the message, seller won't worry about assault or battery charges, and the money still comes in.
Unfortunately, the current legal system won't enforce any of those deals, and the drug kingpins would have a lot of difficulty setting up their own system. They'd first need to work together. Second, they'd probably need their own banking system, and one that the users can trust (the most nonsensical thing I've said in a long time). The users would need one of those accounts in order to buy drugs, and the kingpins would now have some mechanism for garnishment. Who knows, maybe the end result is less violence, higher collections, and other good stuff.
One does wonder if drug bankers would be more or less likely to skim off the top than wall street bankers...
Last edited by ElectronicOverlord; 03-22-2015 at 04:37 PM..
Reason: improve the grammerz
Me and my mother had an interesting discussion a few hours ago, and I thought it would be cool to bring it here...
I think there are several "simple explanations", but I want people to think outside the box. There are plenty of illegal lifestyles--identity theft, counterfeit money, etc--but no other illegal industry is rife with killing like drugs are. It's not like illegal narcotics are in short stock or even terribly hard to get; there's enough money to be had than for constant killings or attempted killings, right?
As a former drug dealer, I'll reserve my comments for later. Appreciate all opinions!
Lots of money involved and greed.
Drugs make people do things they wouldn't normally do
It's illegal. So they can't just call the cops when something goes wrong.
I largely agree wiith LunaticVillage's whole post. I add in that the illegal drug industry just needs a court system. The seller could then go to court, get a judgment against Joe for not paying his coke bill, and garnish his wages if he doesn't pay. There wouldn't be the immediacy of an old-fashioned beat-down, but Joe and his friends will still get the message, seller won't worry about assault or battery charges, and the money still comes in.
That, right there is the problem. A lot of the customers have no garnish-able wages or other assets to place a lien on. Even if they do, once they're at the point of stiffing drug dealers they've likely already exhausted any other sources of credit available to them. They're already judgement proof.
Srsly, I look at the tweakers and junkies running around Seattle and I'd be hard pressed to find one that can't pay for their drugs and could pay a judgement. That's just not realistic. Most of these guys probably have thousands of dollars in civil fines levied against them, so much that the police don't even want to arrest them for a fineable offense.
Because drugs are illegal. The dealers can't rely on law enforcement to protect them, so they arm themselves. Legalize and drugs will be sold by cashiers, not gang members.
Me and my mother had an interesting discussion a few hours ago, and I thought it would be cool to bring it here...
I think there are several "simple explanations", but I want people to think outside the box. There are plenty of illegal lifestyles--identity theft, counterfeit money, etc--but no other illegal industry is rife with killing like drugs are. It's not like illegal narcotics are in short stock or even terribly hard to get; there's enough money to be had than for constant killings or attempted killings, right?
As a former drug dealer, I'll reserve my comments for later. Appreciate all opinions!
With the stiff sentences handed down for trafficking, it makes sense enough , that someone living o the edge like dealers, don't have any issue with killing to stay out of prison. Also, the more weight and money involved starts turf wars for who gets to sling and where. No different than any other war. All about the economics.
LE has also escalated the violence, as well. Its like a tit for tat thing. Cops get submachine guns, dealers get RPGs, and so on. I can't really go "outside the box" much more. Its simply the most lucrative, competitive, high demand, dangerous and thus violent business there is. Addiction to high potency narcotics make people crazy, as well. A heroin junky would rather kill than go through withdrawal. Sheesh...I could go on and on.
It would tame down a bunch IG they just legalized certain drugs.Corner drug stores used to sell Laudanum, cocaine, heroin, opium powder etc, OTC. Funny thing, booze was illegal at that time, and that's what wars were being fought over. No issues with drugs, and addiction rates were less than they are now. The government just doesn't learn. When you tell people what they can and can't do with their own bodies, and tell them you CANT have this, cuz I says so, especially in America, rebellion and a big up yours results. That creates high demand, and money big enough to kill over. Its stupid.
Legalize the stuff. Take the money out of it, give people the freedom to make their own choices and quit trying to be a babysitter. Of course, grjsting government to oversee legal drugs is rather spooky., on the other hand. The drive would probablywind up more eexpensive and less quality. S, that would tame down the violence.
Me and my mother had an interesting discussion a few hours ago, and I thought it would be cool to bring it here...
I think there are several "simple explanations", but I want people to think outside the box. There are plenty of illegal lifestyles--identity theft, counterfeit money, etc--but no other illegal industry is rife with killing like drugs are. It's not like illegal narcotics are in short stock or even terribly hard to get; there's enough money to be had than for constant killings or attempted killings, right?
As a former drug dealer, I'll reserve my comments for later. Appreciate all opinions!
You are sorely misinformed. Any racket that has a large revenue stream (including counterfeit money) is violent. It's not a corporate boardroom, but it's still about their bottom line.
Or may be that if caught dealing drugs, one can be put away for a very long time or even executed in certain situations.
Given those options, is there any wonder why one might go ahead and push the violence of the act?
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