Economic Crisis Cripples Irish Coke Dealers

Irish gangsters are scaling back drugs shipments and struggling to make ends meet, the Irish Times reported, in a fascinating analysis of the recession on organized crime.

The newspaper said those involved in the cocaine trade have been particularly badly hit, facing ‘collapsed demand’ in the last three years after a 15 year boom.

“Most of the young people who were doing drugs were doing cocaine,” an unnamed source told the Times, “But now we see that thousands upon thousands of these people have lost their jobs, and so they don’t have the money for coke any more.”

“What’s going on in the drug trade is exactly the same as in the legitimate economy: people aren’t spending,” he added. (Irish Times: http://bit.ly/iggcDG )

Details of Ireland’s coke crisis emerged as Africa Review reported that clubs in Cairo are also currently just half full, following the revolution and ousting of dictator and President Hosni Mubarak in January.

Noting that before the revolution Egypt’s elite clubbers and tourists could enjoy ‘scenes of opulent decadence’ at $500 per head parties headlined by international DJs in both Cairo and Red Sea resorts, the Review said uncertainty, both economic and political, has had a chilling effect.

“What these parties also staged (showed), besides the fact that Egyptians knew how to have a good time, was the increasing gap between the rich and poor,” said the Review, “One of the main factors that led to the January protests and an ever increasing sight in the developing world.” (AfricaReview: http://bit.ly/n936b9 )

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff