Oil (Brent barrel) bullion (London ounce) and pork bellies (Chicago
whatever) markets have their prices.
As J.P. morgan said in his day, "the market will vary".
The prices of the above have varied over 20 years in response to
supply and demand and regulation.

What is the median (or modal) blackmarket wholesale price of a kilogram of
illegal Cocaine Hydrochloride at Miami for each of the last 20 years?

Anticipated sources would be Customs, DEA, FBI, Miami police/county Sheriff,
major Florida media, criminal courts, family courts.

Data points for some years may be missing, but can an overall picture be seen?

If statistical data from another major US metropolitan area is more
readily available that would be acceptable.

---

Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 02 Aug 2004 08:35 PDT

I found a record of prices from 1981-2000 nationwide if this is of use
to you as an answer.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

---

Clarification of Question by grthumongous-ga on 02 Aug 2004 11:39 PDT

Tutuzdad, your list would be acceptable as an Answer.  Please proceed.

---

Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 02 Aug 2004 12:41 PDT

Dear grthumongous-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. This
graphic, derived from the OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY,
indicates illicit drug prices from 1981 to 2000 broken down into gram
and multi-gram units. The listed price for 100 gram units can simply
be multiplied by 10 to reach your ?per kilo? conclusions on a national
level:

TRENDS IN COCAINE PRICES (1981 - 2000)
http://www.briancbennett.com/charts/fed-data/cocaine-prices.htm

??..

For a more in depth look, you might obtain this publication from RAND
DRUG POLICY RESEARCH CENTER:

DEVELOPING PRICE SERIES FOR COCAINE
http://www.rand.org/multi/dprc/projects/model.html#price

Synopsis:
?The distribution, use, and control of illicit drugs in the United
States impose substantial costs on society. Efforts to formulate
policies that mitigate these costs are stymied by inadequate knowledge
of the fundamental character of drug use and drug markets. RAND sought
to improve knowledge about drug markets by constructing and analyzing
a time series for the price of cocaine using data from the Drug
Enforcement Administration's System to Retrieve Information from Drug
Evidence, a database that includes records of prices paid by
undercover agents for individual purchases. The RAND model
standardized data for transaction size and purity using the assumption
that cocaine price is governed more by its expected purity than the
actual purity of the product. Using this concept, the model
constructed price series for the gram, ounce, and kilogram level in a
variety of locations. Analysis of these series revealed that
significant price differences exist between cities, even at the
wholesale level; these differences do not necessarily dissipate over
time; and the ratio of prices at different market levels has remained
remarkably constant over time.?

Developing Price Series for Cocaine. 
http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-getabbydoc.pl?MR-317

?..

These articles may also prove helpful with your investigation and they
are also available from RAND:

Domestic Geographic Variation in Illicit Drug Prices.
http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-getabbydoc.pl?RP-378

What Is the Average Price of an Illicit Drug?
http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-getabbydoc.pl?RP-331

The Meaning and Utility of Drug Prices.
http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-getabbydoc.pl?RP-586

?.

Finally, the Department of Justice regularly publishes REGIONAL DRUG
PRICE AND PURITY REPORTS, THREAT ASSESSMENTS and TRAFFICKING TREND
surveys that may also have what you are looking for. Cocaine prices in
Miami are often discussed in conjunction with Threat Assessment
Reports from Columbia. They are numerous and often voluminous so,
prepare yourself, the search for the data will be heavy:

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (search examples)

http://search.usdoj.gov/compass?scope=COCAINE+PRICE+TREND&ui=sr&view-template=dojsimple&page=1

http://search.usdoj.gov/compass?scope=COCAINE+PRICE+MIAMI&ui=sr&view-template=dojsimple&page=1



I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES:

DEFINED ABOVE


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

REGIONAL DRUG PRICE AND PURITY REPORT

HISTORICAL 

COCAINE

PRICES

?BY YEAR?

MIAMI

DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

?TRENDS IN THE TRAFFIC?

Sorry - I inadvertently posted my answer in the wrong area. Let's try
that again shall we?

.....



Dear grthumongous-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. This
graphic, derived from the OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY,
indicates illicit drug prices from 1981 to 2000 broken down into gram
and multi-gram units. The listed price for 100 gram units can simply
be multiplied by 10 to reach your ?per kilo? conclusions on a national
level:

TRENDS IN COCAINE PRICES (1981 - 2000)
http://www.briancbennett.com/charts/fed-data/cocaine-prices.htm

??..

For a more in depth look, you might obtain this publication from RAND
DRUG POLICY RESEARCH CENTER:

DEVELOPING PRICE SERIES FOR COCAINE
http://www.rand.org/multi/dprc/projects/model.html#price

Synopsis:
?The distribution, use, and control of illicit drugs in the United
States impose substantial costs on society. Efforts to formulate
policies that mitigate these costs are stymied by inadequate knowledge
of the fundamental character of drug use and drug markets. RAND sought
to improve knowledge about drug markets by constructing and analyzing
a time series for the price of cocaine using data from the Drug
Enforcement Administration's System to Retrieve Information from Drug
Evidence, a database that includes records of prices paid by
undercover agents for individual purchases. The RAND model
standardized data for transaction size and purity using the assumption
that cocaine price is governed more by its expected purity than the
actual purity of the product. Using this concept, the model
constructed price series for the gram, ounce, and kilogram level in a
variety of locations. Analysis of these series revealed that
significant price differences exist between cities, even at the
wholesale level; these differences do not necessarily dissipate over
time; and the ratio of prices at different market levels has remained
remarkably constant over time.?

Developing Price Series for Cocaine. 
http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-getabbydoc.pl?MR-317

?..

These articles may also prove helpful with your investigation and they
are also available from RAND:

Domestic Geographic Variation in Illicit Drug Prices.
http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-getabbydoc.pl?RP-378

What Is the Average Price of an Illicit Drug?
http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-getabbydoc.pl?RP-331

The Meaning and Utility of Drug Prices.
http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/Abstracts/e-getabbydoc.pl?RP-586

?.

Finally, the Department of Justice regularly publishes REGIONAL DRUG
PRICE AND PURITY REPORTS, THREAT ASSESSMENTS and TRAFFICKING TREND
surveys that may also have what you are looking for. Cocaine prices in
Miami are often discussed in conjunction with Threat Assessment
Reports from Columbia. They are numerous and often voluminous so,
prepare yourself, the search for the data will be heavy:

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (search examples)

http://search.usdoj.gov/compass?scope=COCAINE+PRICE+TREND&ui=sr&view-template=dojsimple&page=1

http://search.usdoj.gov/compass?scope=COCAINE+PRICE+MIAMI&ui=sr&view-template=dojsimple&page=1



I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES:

DEFINED ABOVE


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

REGIONAL DRUG PRICE AND PURITY REPORT

HISTORICAL 

COCAINE

PRICES

?BY YEAR?

MIAMI

DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

?TRENDS IN THE TRAFFIC?

---

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 03 Aug 2004 19:28 PDT

Thank you for your generous tip. I look forward to working with you
again in the near future.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

Thanks Tutuzdad. 
It appears that the Kg cost in (inflation-adjusted) real dollars has
declined over the interval-or at best, stayed level.

Thank you Pink.

I'd be more interested in why you want this information?  Is it so you
know what to sell your Cocaine for?

Scubajim,

If you had done a moment's research and read through the questions (or
even the subject titles of the questions) asked by grthumongous on GA
in the past, you'd know that he has a keen interest in current affairs
in the United States, particularly social and political matters. I
find it highly offensive that anyone would attribute nefarious motives
to one of Google Answers' best customers.

Perhaps we should see if grthumongous finds it "highly offensive"
before we jump all over scubajim? Just a thought.

Its only offensive if its true.  I don't know it to be true or not.
Think about it.  Isn't the question why that question more fasinating
than the answer to his question?  (unless you really care about the
price.) I think it is. There could be many, I'm just wondering why? 
The same could be said if I was trying to run a brothel in Nevada. 
What are the prevaling rates for such types of services in Nevada?  (I
really don't care what the rates are, I don't own a brothel and don't
plan to make use of those services or any related services.)

It is not only doubtful, but downright silly to think that a Miami
drug dealer with interest in illicit drug trafficking of KILOS of
cocaine would want to, need to or risk posting on a major (public)
internet forum in order to determine what price to charge for his
dope. Use your heads here kiddies. I think we can safely speculate
that the customer no more intends to use this information for that
purpose than YOU came here to find out the answer and use the
information in your own illegal drug trafficking businesses. After
all...the subject apparently interested you enough that YOU were drawn
to it too.

tutuzdad-ga