“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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$90 for a gram of Ketamine
$200 for a Peyote Plant
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Inflated Methamphetamine Pricing?
The drug price list was sent to an L.A. TACO reporter working on a story about the LAPD appearing to inflate the price of methamphetamine seized during drug raids.
Multiple harm reduction experts, meth users, and meth addiction outreach volunteers told L.A. TACO that the drug usually costs around $20-$40 per gram on the streets. Meanwhile, the LAPD’s estimates for the price of methamphetamine—a notoriously inexpensive drug that can be made from household chemicals—have exceeded $150 per gram when broken down to a per-gram cost.
Law enforcement agencies are notorious for inflating the valuations of drugs by using a “street value” price rather than a wholesale value, but the LAPD’s estimates for the price of meth are significantly higher than even those numbers cited by other local law enforcement agencies.
Undercover fentanyl pill operations have increased in the last year by nearly 50%, according to the report. The drug price list also notes that “kilos of ecstasy powder (Molly) were reported for the first time this quarter.” And it also includes “NEW!” prices for quarter pounds of meth ($300-400) and half ounces of shrooms ($120). A gram of meth costs $20, according to HIDTA’s report, and a pound costs around $700.
Source of Price List
“Attached is the price list provided by HIDTA [the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program] as it relates to current trends,” Lillian Carranza, LAPD Assistant Commander, wrote in response to Chief Moore’s email, seemingly without realizing that an L.A. TACO reporter was included on the email chain. “However, the street price is determined by many factors (purity, potency, supply, demand, wholesale, mid-level, distance to source, etc.).”
High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program
The High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA) is a Regan-era initiative created by Congress to provide assistance to local law enforcement “operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States.”
Source LA Taco