Methamphetamine is an even better 'investment' than cocaine

Jonathan Berr — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:38:00 EST

Filed under: Law, Rants and Raves, Google (GOOG), Politics

When I wrote last week that cocaine prices rose at a faster rate than the Dow Jones industrial average, I overlooked something: methamphetamine may be an even better "investment" than cocaine, when compared with the index. Marijuana isn't doing too shabby either.

According to data on the DEA's website, the average price per pure gram of all domestic methamphetamine soared 37% between January and June 2007, beating the 24% gain in cocaine, and eclipsing the broad market index, which rose about 7% during that same time.

I wasn't able to find comparable data for marijuana but did come across an interesting story from Bloomberg News saying that prices for marijuana in Holland have soared 20% because of an increase in police raids. So any college students planning a trip to Europe should take note. U.S. pot prices have climbed over the last few years, according to the folks at High Times. I'll update this post if I get more information.

Does this mean that people should dump their Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) shares and set up a crystal meth lab or start growing weed? Of course not.

As Mr. Mackey from South Park says, "Drugs are bad." They're bad for your health and bad for society. People should just say no to drugs, but they don't and that's the problem. Prohibition didn't stop people from drinking in the '20s, and isn't stopping people from getting high today. My argument is that if we decriminalize drugs, the government can tax them and use that money to treat addicts.

Legalization is no utopia, but given the failure of the War on Drugs, it seems like it's worth a try.

Methamphetamine is an even better 'investment' than cocaine originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are drugs fueling the stock market's rise?

Peter Cohan — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:20:00 EST

Filed under: Other Issues, Bad News, Management, Employees, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Lehman Br Holdings (LEH), Bear Stearns Cos (BSC)

Are you tired of reading explanations -- such as changing interest rates, profit growth, Yen carry trade -- about what makes the market move? Well then you're in luck because Reuters reports that this market is moving on drugs. That's right. According to Harris Stratyner, a psychologist at Caron's New York Recovery Center, some executives he treats are experimenting with cocaine, opiate-based drugs, Ecstasy and marijuana. Drugs don't make stock prices go up but they fuel the bankers who run it.

And these bankers are making big bucks. Six of the largest U.S. investment banks - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), JPMorgan & Chase Co. (NYSE: JPM), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and The Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE: BSC) - combined for $17.6 billion in first-quarter profit this year. That's after paying out $28.8 billion for pay and benefits.Those profit and pay figures are more than double those seen in the first quarter of 2000, the last days before the dot-com bubble burst.

It's not as if the banks don't know what's going on. One hiring manager at a major New York bank told Reuters that new staff must take a urine test, which is typical for the industry. But he said new hires can choose when to schedule the test during a 45-day period before their start date."Our drug test is not so much a test of whether you actually take drugs as it is an intelligence test to see if you can figure out how long it takes to get traces of the drug out of your system." .

Continue reading Are drugs fueling the stock market's rise?

Are drugs fueling the stock market's rise? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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