The San Francisco Drug Economy

http://priceonomics.com/the-san-francisco-drug-economy/

88 32 11 years ago

As soon as I saw that edited photo with a blurred out face of the crack cocaine user, I was reminded of http://yuzhikov.com/articles/BlurredImagesRestoration1.htm

slig• 11 years ago

Very interesting article! Thanks for sharing.

rm_-rf_slash2• 11 years ago

At first I was surprised at the amount of speed and opiates consumed around the Bay Area. Weed and psychedelics seem reasonable given the population, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense: impressionable kids straight out of college are thrust into extremely fast-paced work lives with too little wisdom and too much cash, so it seems like a natural continuation of the college mindset, i.e., cramming with addy and winding down with weed, by keeping up with coke and numbing down with Vicodin or heroin. The concept of work-life balance approaches insanity in the valley. I'm glad that I left, and I haven't looked back.

bigethan• 11 years ago

It feels a lot like Wall Street in the 80's. I'm not leaving, but I needed to find the currents out of the main cultural flow to stay sane.

rm_-rf_slash2• 11 years ago

I think Silicon Valley is more like Wall Street than they realize. It seems more and more like a playground for the rich where you tough it out for a few years before your resume will let you work wherever you'd like, because unless you're loaded, I can't imagine how anyone would raise children there. Can't be too good for long-term employee loyalty...

beachstartup• 11 years ago

speed (meth) and opiates (pills, dirty heroin) are a huge problem in california in general, not just the bay area.

disaffected, loserish kids in the suburbs are doing it just as much as rich bay area yuppies.

Nimitz14• 11 years ago

speed is not meth

nosuchthing• 11 years ago

San Francisco is the only place I've ever seen custom glass funnels for sale at headshops.

SF is also the only place I've ever seen flyers advertising a Whipit delivery service (nitrous oxide).

Generally speaking SF seems to be much more loose with drug use than other cities in CA - although I will say, from what I've seen, the use of pharmaceuticals like benzos and adderal seem to be treated as lightly as alcohol these days.

ChuckFrank• 11 years ago

I wish I was there when this piece came it at priceonomics. Aside from some price comparisons, I didn't feel that it really got into the economics of the market, and how it might be skewed on the streets, what operating constraints exist.

It would have been interesting to see if there was support in this study for the iron law of prohibition, which states that the harder the laws, the harder the drugs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_prohibition

Vice did a great job of showing this in the economies of illegal alcohol sales in the Canadian Territories, where people wanted to drink beer, but ended up drinking vodka instead, and they wanted to drink a little bit of it, but ended up being forced to drink a lot.

You can watch it here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIhUhHbTJ_s

Unintended consequences is always fascinating reporting, as it would have been here.

As to the side effects of the tech industry on drug us, all I can say is that in my volunteer work at City Team, I see it everyday. And I think it's intentional. I think it's part hazing, part group dynamics, and part social psychopath testing, that alcohol and drugs play such a large role in most all the tech companies that I consult with.

And if that concerns you, consider volunteering at a place like City Team as well. They need help every night.

djcapelis• 11 years ago

You can get a milligram scale for $20.49 on Amazon.

The article calls these "high-powered, expensive scales" which seems like a weird thing for a blog that's all about prices of things to get so wrong.

mninm• 11 years ago

I once priced a variety of scales on Amazon and for weeks afterward the stream of recommended products that Amazon shows at the bottom of the page became polluted with all sorts of drug paraphernalia that Amazon sells.

My takeaway is that drug dealers/users use Amazon to buy their supplies just like anyone else. It makes sense, I mean, why wouldn't they?

erroneousfunk• 11 years ago

I was at a punk bar in Boston, and, a little drunk, walked up to one of the scarier-looking punks and asked about his jacket. He told me how he spiked the entire thing, put in the studs, and sewed on all the patches. I asked "where did you get the spikes?" he replied "Amazon, mate!"

Everyone buys everything on Amazon.

dsr_• 11 years ago

The last chart shows that the ninth most-seized drug is acetaminophen.

Tylenol?

Is this because it's being used to cut other drugs, or is it the persecution of schoolkids?

throwawayornot• 11 years ago

many prescription opioids also contain acetaminophen

littlewing• 11 years ago

If you only gathered the same data on a regular basis, then you might have a startup on your hands. The name should somehow incorporate Fear and Loathing. You'd also want metrics for addiction, (in)ability to carry on everyday activities, etc. and graph that to find the sweet spot for best bang for the buck. Possible integration with Siri, Cortana, Google Now, etc. "Siri, I want to get high." "Sure, just see Terry on Market St. He's got some snow at a great price. For your current body weight, you should buy 5 grams to have a good time tonight."

GabrielF00• 11 years ago

Why are people buying black market prozac? Isn't it pretty trivial to get a prescription?

Carrok• 11 years ago

Not if you don't have health insurance.

tormeh• 11 years ago

"[...]or because of the stress of these tech jobs they start doing cocaine to stay up and oxycodone to relax. Working 80-hour weeks and making crazy money extracts a terrible toll on you."

How the fuck is this acceptable? How are inhumane workloads like these legal?

seiji• 11 years ago

It's not just acceptable, it's encouraged. It's the goal. It's startup nirvana.

Quoth your startup god king:

Hoffman travels three or four times a year to China, LinkedIn’s fastest-growing market, and he is impressed by the Chinese work ethic. He told one conference audience about a startup in Beijing that was able to ship its first product in just six months, by renting a block of hotel rooms and requiring all employees to live there, taking breaks only to eat, sleep, and exercise.

yummyfajitas2• 11 years ago

The impression I get is that SF is a place to work, not a place to live. You go there, become deeply involved in tech, learn from your surroundings and level up your skills, and then move on. There are no women to distract you, immigrant-hostile natives to chase you back to campus, and campuses that provide a perfect environment for you to focus on tech.

It's certainly not an environment that everyone would like - neither is USMC bootcamp, a PhD program or an MMA gym. Why should that be illegal?

To quote Marge Simpson (regarding watching MMA): "Call me a killjoy, but I think that because this is not to my taste, no one else should be able to enjoy it."

codingdave• 11 years ago

I really like the MMA analogy, because it makes it so easy to illustrate why this environment is a problem. Ronda Rousey earned my respect not for her fighting, but for her very explicit awareness that MMA will damage her, and there is a limited amount of fighting she can do before quitting. So she picks fights to maximize her income as she destroys herself. Fighters know they are trading long-term health for money. It is part of the game.

Working in tech in SF, and the other scenarios mentioend, are the same thing - you are putting yourself into an unhealthy environment, in exchange for specific benefits, usually cash, but sometimes for more non-tangible benefits to your life, or simply because you believe in it.

If that is the choice people make, that is fine. People should have the freedom to make those kinds of choices as they direct their lives. But what worries me is that some young people are jumping into these situations without realizing it.

As with everything in life, a conscious choice to follow a path is a good thing, and will be respected. But falling into something without realizing the downsides can be dangerous.

billmalarky• 11 years ago

To quote Marge Simpson (regarding MMA): "Call me a killjoy, but I think that because this is not to my taste, no one else should be able to enjoy it."

Actions in hyper-competitive SV have a ripple effect on the rest of tech economy globally. If the only way to compete in tech is to use performance enhancing drugs, well that's exactly the sort of situation where I'd want the government to step in with regulation. I don't want to have to use drugs in order to stay competitive. It's a health issue, similar to professional sports and drug use. Performance enhancing drugs are banned for the health of the athletes, not for the "spirit of the game."

danans2• 11 years ago

I don't think you really mean "SF". What you are describing sounds like the tech industry, and even then a small slice of it. There are many women, and immigrant-hostile natives, and even immigrant-friendly natives for that matter, in the SF Bay Area.

It's a wonderful place to live actually, and to raise kids, as long as you can afford the cost of a good standard of living here.

And despite what the article connotes, most people in tech are not using illegal drugs frequently or ever.

oldmanjay• 11 years ago

I'll take your outrage at face value and answer thusly: Adults can make decisions for themselves that you wouldn't make for yourself, and this is not only acceptable, it is vastly preferable to a world with only you making the decisions.

draw_down• 11 years ago

Ask yourself who has the money, and how the laws get written.

wahsd• 11 years ago

SF is such a farce. Massive destruction and decomposition of society through drugs on one side, massively insane and irrational wealth and valuations and tech talent on the other.

Camillo• 11 years ago

I always assumed the police knows about the dealing and allows it. You pretty much can't walk by certain streets without being offered drugs.

The San Francisco Drug Economy

Related Stories