Why Drug Suppliers Seem Indifferent If Their Customers Die

Evolving Drug Market Make Everything
 1000 Times Worse

Why Drug Suppliers & Dealers Seem Indifferent If Their Customers Die

Marketing 101 - The Evolving Drug Market From Heroin Supply to Fentanyl Demand and Beyond – 1990s through to 2024

I know what you’re thinking – An economics course! I promise, no long-winded, dry essay on marketing principles. However, to understand the changes from a Heroin market to Fentanyl we have to think of supply/demand principles from a product producer perspective (drug suppliers/dealers).

Let me use an analogy. In the 1950’s when the first TVs came out, they were expensive to produce and they took a long time to build. Supply was the determining factor of price and availability (this is the same model for Heroin).

As we got better at miniaturising and manufacturing, TVs became easier to produce, which made them cheaper. Manufacturers could make millions of units. Producers moved to a demand model. This is where it gets interesting.

Part of a marketing strategy of a demand model means creating demand. Producers come up with all kinds of ways why a buyer ‘needs” their product. Today, everyone has a TV. Do we need them? No, but producers sold the idea we did. This is today’s Fentanyl market.

It's tempting for many of us to concentrate on fighting this crisis through health-focused harm reduction or for some, who may still want to apply the old-guard criminalization model that has been such a failure over the last 200 hundred years. Let me paint a picture here. Solving the toxic drug crisis is like fighting a house fire. If you only use fire hoses from the front of the house, you'll never put out the fire burning on all the other sides and through the roof. House fires are three-dimensional. Sadly for us, the toxic drug crisis is multi-dimensional. One side of this fire we can't afford to ignore is the drastic supply/demand changes between Heroin and Fentanyl.

In recent years, the illegal drug trade has undergone a huge transformation from supply to demand, leading to a surge in potent and deadly substances flooding our streets. This shift has left many wondering:

·         Why are the drugs sold by dealers becoming increasingly dangerous?

·         What's behind the rising number of overdose deaths?

To answer these questions, we need to take a closer look at a bit of history, how drug production has changed over time and how these changes have reshaped the entire drug market and created the toxic drug crisis our communities face today.

The Old Guard: Heroin's Reign

To understand where we are now, we need to look back at where we've been. For decades, heroin was the king of opioids in the illegal drug trade. But producing heroin wasn't easy or cheap:

·         A Labor-Intensive Process

Making heroin required a lot of work and resources. It all starts with growing opium poppies, which need large areas of farmland and a small army of farmers to cultivate and harvest the crops. This wasn't a quick process – poppies took time to grow, and the harvesting had to be done carefully to extract the raw opium.

·         Limited Supply, High Prices

Because it took so much time and effort to produce heroin, there was only so much that could be made at any given time. This limited supply meant that dealers could charge high prices for their products. It was simple economics: when something is hard to get, it becomes more valuable.

·         Smuggling Challenges

Getting heroin from where it was produced to where it would be sold was no easy feat. The stuff is bulky. Smugglers had to transport large quantities of the drug across borders and oceans, which was risky and complicated. This added another layer of difficulty to the heroin trade, further limiting how much could be sold and keeping prices high.

2001- A Hole in Heroin Production

Along came the Afghan War – For those who might not know, Afghanistan was one of the largest producers of Heroin up to 2001. During the war, production effectively stopped. Other countries took on poppy farming, but like all shifts in agriculture, bringing brand-new farm production online is time-consuming and expensive. Cartels were hurting, however, they were no dummies. Marketing survival demands innovation or elimination.

The New Kid on the Block: Fentanyl Takes Over

Enter fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has completely changed the game. Here's why it's become so popular among drug suppliers/dealers:

·         Cheaper and Easier to Produce

Unlike heroin, fentanyl doesn't require any farming. It's made entirely in labs using chemicals, which means it's much cheaper to produce. There's no need for vast fields of poppies or teams of farm workers. Just a small lab and a few people who know what they're doing can churn out large quantities of fentanyl.

Frankly, it’s easier to ship the raw materials and set up labs that produce Fentanyl close to your buyers.

·         Unlimited Production Potential

Because fentanyl is synthetic, there's virtually no limit to how much can be made. Dealers aren't constrained by crop yields or harvest seasons. As long as they have the necessary chemicals and equipment, they can keep producing fentanyl around the clock.

·         More Bang for the Buck

Fentanyl is incredibly potent – it's 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. This means that a tiny amount of fentanyl can produce the same high as a much larger amount of heroin. For dealers, this is a goldmine: they can sell smaller quantities for the same price, increasing their profits dramatically.

The Border Problem: Why It's So Hard to Stop

With fentanyl being so easy and cheap to produce, trying to stop it at the border has become a nearly impossible task. Here's why:

·         High Demand Fuels Supply

There's a huge demand for opioids in many countries, and fentanyl meets that demand cheaply and effectively. As long as people want to buy it, someone will find a way to supply it.

·         Quick Replenishment

Even if law enforcement manages to seize a large shipment of fentanyl, it doesn't take long for that supply to be replaced. The ease and speed of production mean that dealers can bounce back quickly from any losses.

·         Small Packages, Big Impact

Because fentanyl is so potent, smugglers can transport it in much smaller quantities than heroin. This makes it easier to hide and harder to detect at border checkpoints.

·         Diversifying Production

The finished product doesn’t have to be produced elsewhere anymore. You can get the raw materials and open up your production labs close to your customers. Transporting raw materials is easier to slip by border controls than the finished product.

Expanding Markets: The Cartel Strategy

Drug cartels aren't content with just selling to existing opioid users. They're always looking for ways to expand their customer base and increase profits. Best of all for them, Fentanyl is a plentiful product. That means they can shift to that demand marketing model we’ve talked about. This is one of the main reasons we live in the current toxic drug crisis today.

Cartels are not limited to the supply problems of Heroin. They can now “create” demand for Fentanyl. Here’s the real kicker – in a demand market, customers are created faster than your current customers.  Drug suppliers have never exactly been known for their altruism. Now even less so - losing a few customers along the way – (overdose deaths) doesn’t matter, because there are 10 more customers created for every one customer they lose. Here's how they're doing it:

·         Targeting New Users

Cartels are creating new products designed to appeal to people who might not normally use opioids. This includes things like adding colour or changing the form of the product – colourful pills that might look less threatening or even appealing to younger people.

·         Mixing with Other Drugs

Another tactic is to mix fentanyl with other popular drugs like cocaine or methamphetamine. This can create new addicts who might not have sought out opioids on their own but become hooked after unknowingly using fentanyl-laced substances.

·         Creating "Gateway" Products

Some cartels are producing pills that look like common prescription medications but actually contain fentanyl. This can trick people into thinking they're taking a medical-grade medicine which they would assume is relatively safe when they're actually consuming a much more dangerous drug.

The Next Wave: Even Stronger Drugs on the Horizon

As if fentanyl wasn't dangerous enough, there are now even more potent drugs emerging on the market:

·         Super-Potent Opioids

Some new synthetic opioids are reported to be up to 50 times stronger than fentanyl. To put that in perspective, if fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine, these new drugs could be 5,000 times more potent than morphine.

·         Increased Overdose Risk

With such powerful drugs hitting the streets, the risk of overdose skyrockets. Even tiny miscalculations in dosage can be fatal, and many users may not realize just how strong these new substances are.

Adapting to Survive: How Cartels Stay in Business

Drug cartels are nothing if not adaptable. As laws and enforcement strategies change, so do their tactics:

·         Diversifying Product Lines

Cartels are constantly developing new drug formulations and combinations to stay ahead of law enforcement and appeal to different types of users.

·         Embracing Technology

From using cryptocurrency for transactions to employing drones for smuggling, cartels are quick to adopt new technologies that can help their business.

·         Exploiting Legal Loopholes

As soon as one drug is made illegal, cartels often have chemists working on slightly altered versions that aren't yet banned, staying one step ahead of the law.

The Misunderstanding of Addiction

Despite all we know about the science of addiction, there's still a widespread misunderstanding of why people become addicted to drugs:

·         More Than a Moral Failing

Many people still view addiction as simply a lack of willpower or a moral weakness. This oversimplification ignores the complex biological, psychological, and social factors that contribute to addiction.

·         The Brain Disease Model

Addiction is increasingly recognized as a chronic brain disease that changes the way the brain functions. It's not just about making bad choices – it's about fundamental changes in brain chemistry and structure.

·         Systemic Issues at Play

Poverty, lack of access to healthcare, trauma, and mental health issues all play significant roles in the development of addiction. Addressing these underlying issues is crucial to tackling the drug crisis.

A Complex Problem Requiring Comprehensive Solutions

The evolution of the drug market from heroin to fentanyl and beyond has created a crisis that defies simple solutions. In BC, a health emergency was declared in 2016. So far solutions that substantially shift the challenges have eluded us. The challenges touch on issues of public health, law enforcement, border control, education, and social justice. One thing we know for certain after all this time is that the old traditional models addressing unregulated drugs from the 20^th century do not work. If we’re going to solve this, we better get innovative and we need to do it quickly.

Addressing this crisis will require a multifaceted approach that includes:

·         Improved and timely addiction treatment and mental health services

·         Better education about the risks of drug use, especially for young people

·         Innovative law enforcement strategies to disrupt drug production and distribution networks

·   Policies that address the root causes of addiction, such as homelessness, poverty, trauma and lack of opportunity

·         Increased funding for research into new treatments for addiction and overdose prevention

As the drug market continues to evolve, so too must our strategies for combating its devastating effects on individuals, families, and communities. Only by understanding the complexities of this issue can we hope to develop effective solutions that save lives and reduce the harm caused by these increasingly potent and dangerous drugs.

The Author: Ron Merk – Ron advocates for people and families experiencing concurrent disorders.

Resources:

·         2024 USA National Drug Threat Assessment - https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/NDTA_2024.pdf
 

·         USA National Drug Intelligence Center-  Methamphetamine Drug Threat Assessment.  https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs13/13853/index.htm#Contents

·         Dr Simon Feng – Expert on Drug Addiction and Recovery