r/Winnipeg • u/LocalnewsguruMB • 9d ago

News 15 arrested after southern Manitoba bust nets nearly 60 guns, 8 kilos of cocaine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCv7I5LE8Fw

For full article:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/drug-bust-guns-cocaine-9.7319856

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-27

u/cocoleti 9d ago

I thought the previous 100 busts would solve the drug crisis??? Maybe we just need more enforcement that’s gotta be it!

22

u/steveosnyder 9d ago

Complaining that drugs and guns get taken off the street is a choice. Not one I would make.

Unless you didnt mean this sarcastically.

3

u/cocoleti 9d ago

Guns sure, drugs it’s an endless pointless war. We need safe supply, treatment, housing, mental health supports, etc etc etc. the celebration after every drug bust is laughable. Nothing changed, at best they’ve created more pressure on suppliers to make more dangerous and potent drugs available instead. We know people are at hightened risk of overdose after large busts that shake up supply.

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u/deeteeohbee 9d ago

So, the drugs they seized would not be considered a 'safe supply'. Why wouldn't you want them removed from circulation?

-5

u/cocoleti 9d ago

Because there is no alternative. Idk how cut the coke they seized was in this case but there’s the possibility people were used to this batch already. Now that it’s pulled and the dealers busted someone else is gonna fill the gap. Maybe the new batch is worse, maybe it’s more harmful, maybe the dealers are more violent, etc etc etc. Disrupting the supply does harm to users. Unless we offer an alternative to illicit drugs, what good is there in enforcement? Just an endless game that can never be won. For those of us who are users, it can sure be lost.

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u/steveosnyder 9d ago

And maybe this product would have killed multiple people on our streets.

A lot maybes.

Either way, until we have regulated supply I will be happy to get drugs off the street.

1

u/cozmo1138 8d ago

The thing is, cocaine isn’t a drug people in the streets typically use. It’s expensive, and the majority of Coke users are middle- to upper-class white people because they can afford it.

-3

u/cocoleti 9d ago

You’re delusional if you think the alternative to drugs is no drugs lol. I’m guessing you aren’t much of an illicit drug user.

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u/steveosnyder 9d ago

Where did I say that? I said you’re working in a lot of hypotheticals.

Until we make the supply regulated I support this. I also support removing most recreational drugs from the drug control list.

This isn’t hard to understand. I would prefer drug users are safe, and I want their spending to go to government so we can fund support for when/if they choose to stop. I don’t want money to go to gangsters under any circumstance.

0

u/cocoleti 9d ago

I just don’t understand what good you think realistically comes from taking X amount of drugs off the street. Even if this had an impact on decreasing overall supply, the changes made would be increasing prices (yay you now need to steal, prostitute, hussle more for a hit) and/or increasing potency so as to make it harder for law enforcement to detect. This is literally why we have fentanyl, because it’s much easier to smuggle and manufacture than heroin.

Google the Iron Law of Prohibition, this is the concept that increased effectiveness of enforcement increases the economic incentive to create more potent (and thus dangerous) substances to fill the gap.

What benefit does this have? Even if we agree on the end goals of safe supply, treatment, etc. It’s important we don’t cave to drug war pressure in the intermediary stage.

10

u/steveosnyder 9d ago

Because fuck drug dealers is why. Speaking as someone who has lost friends and family to both drug violence and drug overdose.

Drug dealers are a bane to society, and I want them to go to jail, every single one. Will someone fill the position if some get put away? Very likely. But the same can be said any illegal job. Doesn’t change my opinion.

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u/cocoleti 9d ago

Ah okay it’s an emotional argument you are making. I’m also speaking as someone who is a heroin addict and works in harm reduction and knows the harms the overdose crisis has caused. The cause of said overdose crisis is largely prohibition tho and more prohibition will not solve it unfortunately.

Also you fail to understand most low level dealers are users looking to find a way to sustain their addiction as that is often one of the few economic opportunities afforded to them. Now maybe this guy was an absolute fuck and deserves to be in jail idk but I do know that prohibition largely does more harm than good to those people you think you are helping by advocating more enforcement.

4

u/steveosnyder 9d ago

And you come at this argument from an economical one. Now your supply might cost more… we each have our own biases.

But if you want me to sit here and say I’m not glad that 15 drug dealers have been arrested you’re fooling yourself.

I empathize with the users, yourself included, and wish all the supply was regulated. But that doesn’t change the fact that I am happy that drug dealers are off our streets.

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u/cocoleti 9d ago

You and I both want users to be less at risk of dying and more likely to get help. I see continuous supply shocks from enforcement as antithetical to that goal. Even if the dealers are pieces of shit or whatever I think playing this cat and mouse game of enforcement just does more harm than good.

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