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The Military News

Drug-Sniffing Drones Take Flight Over Bolivia 84

Posted by samzenpus from the big-nose-in-the-sky dept.
pigrabbitbear writes "Anti-drug squads are now using Brazilian spy drones to sniff out drug labs that dot Bolivia in increasing numbers. Felipe Caceras, Bolivia's top anti-drug official, claims that some 240 drug labs have been busted in Santa Cruz, an eastern lowlands state bordering Brazil, this month alone, all thanks to Brazil's drones."
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Drug-Sniffing Drones Take Flight Over Bolivia More

Drug-Sniffing Drones Take Flight Over Bolivia

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  • I for one... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Roachie ( 2180772 )

    would like to welcome our olfactory overlords!

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      would like to welcome our olfactory overlords!

      While many business and government leaders are drug sniffing drones, it's a little late to be welcoming them. They've been here forever.

    • Happy to see a beneficial use for drones, instead of imposing the will of the Empire on the other side of the world, or spying on American citizens because they can all be eeeveeel tarrrrrraaaaaissssts!

  • countdown to anti-aircraft missles. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ralph Spoilsport ( 673134 ) on Thursday June 28, 2012 @05:49PM (#40487155) Journal
    To sniff accurately, they have to fly low. Perhaps a simple anti-aircraft gun will do.

    Of course, the USA could just DO THE RIGHT THING and legalise drugs and remove the profit from the drug cartel system, but then a bunch of congressmen won't get campaign funds to keep it all illegal.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by jhoegl ( 638955 )
      Right... because nothing could be safer than a Heroine addict that has no money because they can not keep a job due to their addiction.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Hey, just give them as much heroin as they want and problem solved!

        Go do a cost benefit analysis between addicts long-term with limited supply and high pricing, and short term with unlimited supply and low or non-existant pricing. The latter will clean up the drug using population in a matter of years. The hard users will wipe themselves out, the weaker ones will manage it themselves, in a few generations the problem will have self-regulated.

        Horrible perhaps, but it beats the current system.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
          It's actually very hard to "wipe yourself out" with opioids. The problem comes when an addict either receives a stronger dose than usual because there is no regulation on how drugs are "cut", or an addict that has stopped using for a while, loses his tolerance, and starts using again at his old dose. However there is no upper limit to the amount of opioids a body can take over time. The curve simply shifts to the right.

      • Re:countdown to anti-aircraft missles. (Score:5, Informative)

        by realityimpaired ( 1668397 ) on Thursday June 28, 2012 @06:45PM (#40487811)

        Seriously? Not even basic research? [wikipedia.org]

        We can find other, more reputable sources... start with the reference list on that Wikipedia article. You would do well to actually do some reading before you decide that it's automatically a bad thing. What has actually been seen is the exact opposite of what you seem to think would happen: because it can be obtained legally with a prescription, and because "addiction" is a legitimate reason for a prescription, the junkies are actually getting it from the hospital, and the overwhelming majority of them actually get addiction counseling and the help they need to break their addiction. In other words, the Netherlands, where heroin is essentially legal, has a *lower* percentage of hard drug users than the rest of the world, not higher.

        • In other words, the Netherlands, where heroin is essentially legal, has a *lower* percentage of hard drug users than the rest of the world, not higher.

          It's reverse psychology, man. You say, "Don't you dare try smoking fried banana peels" and that's the first thing they do.

          • Dude... I am so fucked up on fried banananana peels it isn't even funny. If I could afford bananananas every day I'd be, like, an addict. Or something.

            Shhhhhhh! Don't tell people about this. I can make serious dolla dolla billz yall just posting on craigslist advertizing banananannanaBATMAN peels.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
        Confirming there are no penniless heroin addicts today. Oh wait you think that legalising drugs means that everyone will start consuming drugs, just like everyone smokes and everyone drinks alcohol, right?

      • Re:countdown to anti-aircraft missles. (Score:4, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 28, 2012 @07:02PM (#40488009)
        Thank goodness Heroin is illegal and there are no Heroin addicts in the U.S. It's debatable whether the legalization of drugs would increase or decrease their usage. It's also debatable how secondary crimes are affected. One can easily argue that lower prices would result in less theft and that being able to go into a business establishment instead of the 'bad' part of town could help decouple a lot of the criminal element associated with drugs.

        Look at that classic example of alcohol. How did alcohol related crime during prohibition compare to when it was legal?

        Fun Fact: In 1895, the German drug company Bayer marketed diacetylmorphine as an over-the-counter drug under the trademark name Heroin. The name was derived from the Greek word "Heros" because of its perceived "heroic" effects upon a user.

      • Right... because nothing could be safer than a Heroine addict that has no money because they can not keep a job due to their addiction.

        When's the last time you heard of people buying booze from the Maffia? Do you live in fear of recreational alcohol users?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ooshna ( 1654125 )

          Umm I never heard of a recreational crack or heroin user. Though it would be funny to hear someone say "I'm not an addicted I'm just a social freebaser."

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Fned ( 43219 )

        How the fuck did this get +5 insightful? Drug use tends to go down when drugs are legalized. And heroin addicts with access to legal heroin aren't any more unemployable than smokers.

    • > Of course, the USA could just DO THE RIGHT THING and legalise drugs and remove the profit from the drug cartel system,
      > but then a bunch of congressmen won't get campaign funds to keep it all illegal.

      Some say its been tried before:
      http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/om/om15.htm [druglibrary.org]

      But of course, its not the same, like all Scotsmen today.

      Instead of sorting out the mess caused by the combination of your silly laws with silly individualism (e.g. sending addicts to jails instead of into forced-rehab

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Vylen ( 800165 )

      Sounds like a great thing and all, but it's not like as if the USA is the only place where the drugs are being sent to.

      Unless you're saying ALL countries should legalise drugs?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by puto ( 533470 )
      Well, I am US citizen and a Colombian citizen, and a fairly liberal guy who has probably been higher on most substances in my life during my younger and wilder years. A coke head in Colombia or in the US is equally dangerous, I have seen the dangers of cocaine in both countries, and have had to deal with potential muggies in both countries due to crack heads. Weed, booze, E, is fine, but cocaine is a truly evil drug. Removing the profit from it will not change it. Cheaper cocaine will just lead to addi

      • Well,

        I am US citizen and a Colombian citizen

        You're either under 18, or telling a fib. Surely you renounced one citizenship as a condition of receiving the other.

        • Many people hold dual citizenship. Renouncing your citizenship is not a requirement to get a US citizenship. So GP could at point have held a Colombian citizenship, then obtained US citizenship. US law or Colombian law does not require renouncing Colombian citizenship.

    • In nearly every country in the world the same drugs in the US are also illegal there. Since this wasn't always so and these drugs were once legal, and in each and every country were then made illegal, then how can you argue that legalizing drugs works? How can you explain why the reasons all these countries chose to ban them wouldn't apply today?

  • This is fascist. (Score:4, Funny)

    by elucido ( 870205 ) on Thursday June 28, 2012 @05:53PM (#40487235)

    Seriously we are using drug sniffing drones?
    The drones are more dangerous than the drugs in this situation!

    • Re:This is fascist. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 ) on Thursday June 28, 2012 @06:02PM (#40487349) Homepage Journal

      Seriously we are using drug sniffing drones?
      The drones are more dangerous than the drugs in this situation!

      These are pointing them out. Not bombing them.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by redneckmother ( 1664119 )

        Seriously we are using drug sniffing drones? The drones are more dangerous than the drugs in this situation!

        These are pointing them out. Not bombing them.

        "Yet."

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It's ok, The drones are already high most of the time.

    • I don't think they are "sniffing" in the olfactory sense. I think the article just enjoyed a play on words, and the drones are simply looking for heat sources that indicate someone in the woods is cooking up some coke.

    • Let me save you some time reading that headline trolling + 1 page of fluff that they call an article. It's not really "sniffing" anything, as particles from drug production don't get that high in the air. They're just looking for abnormal tree patterns and smoke and vehicles and stuff. Of course, even years ago I saw a documentary showing how they camouflage their locations from aerial observation.

  • Low tech is better (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lord_of_the_nerf ( 895604 ) on Thursday June 28, 2012 @05:53PM (#40487237)

    Keith Richards strapped to a glider.

    Done.

  • Is this the new way to fight crime or the new way to fill up the private prisons?
    Drone manufacturers in bed with private prison owners in bed with law enforcement to create a militarized prison industrial complex?

    I think drones and private prisons are worse than drugs an drug dealers. I support the drug dealers over the drone operators and private prisoner owners. What side are you on?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Actually I support none of them.

      But legalizing cannabis - and maybe few other drugs - might just a) end the "war on drugs" with its insane financial and political costs and b) reduce illegal income sources for the drug cartels. Grow your own cannabis in your garden legally, so no one gets to benefit outside of the fertilizer and seedbank business.

  • I hear pigs can smell truffles underground, some flying pigs should do much better than the drones.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 )

      I hear pigs can smell truffles underground, some flying pigs should do much better than the drones.

      Sure, all we need is Arnold Ziffle and Zsa Zsa to translate for us.. <_<

      • I hear pigs can smell truffles underground, some flying pigs should do much better than the drones.

        Sure, all we need is Arnold Ziffle and Zsa Zsa to translate for us.. <_<

        (love the Green Acres reference)

        "... and watching, for pigs on the wing ..." (mandatory Pink Floyd reference)

  • "Straighten Up and Fly Right"

    (Nat King Cole)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekaqtBcfhwk [youtube.com]

  • I had a temporary warehouse job where I worked with drug sniffing drones; generally a bunch of tedious mother&*@#*s.
  • ...there won't be any left over for the street. Problem solved.
  • I can't help but remember the towed methane sensors used by the US in Vietnam... "sniffing" for "charlie's farts" above the jungle...

    • Humans hardly produce significant methane. Are you sure, they were not looking for cows, cockroaches or termites?

    • I can just see it: a vietcong suddenly comes running straight at you, then farts and passes at top speed. And then a missile lands on your head.

  • Drug drones discover the smell of coca leaves is present in all of bolivia.

  • The first image that popped into my head was a German Shepherd with aviator glases in a Predator drone painted like the Red Baron's plane, flying over the jungle and barking into a radio when it smelled some pot. Then I thought, "why not just make a flying Rat Thing with the nose intact?"
    I should really patent this idea so I can sue the first company who actually makes one!

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