Drug booms and busts: poverty and prosperity in a Nicaraguan narco-barrio

Abstract

The income generated by the drug economy can often be substantial for the different parties involved, even at the lowest rung of this illicit trade. Yet the drugs trade is also a notoriously volatile activity, meaning that drug-related prosperity is highly prone to boom-and-bust cycles. Drawing on ongoing longitudinal ethnographic research in urban Nicaragua, this article explores the consequences of the cyclical nature of the drugs trade, tracing its unequal patterns of capital accumulation, as well as what happened to those who benefited from the drug economy when it became more exclusive and then subsequently moved on elsewhere.     

Α Simple Method for the Determination of Lacosamide in Blood by GC-MS

Lacosamide is a functionalized amino acid with antiepileptic function. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in patients for lacosamide is critical as it allows clinicians to control epileptic seizures. A single liquid–liquid extraction step was applied for the extraction of lacosamide from whole blood samples which were thereafter analyzed by GC-MS. Optimum extraction conditions were selected on the basis of experiments with various solvents at different pHs, indicating ethyl acetate at pH 12 as the most efficient parameters for the extraction of lacosamide. Method exhibited linearity from 2 to 100 μg/mL with R² = 0.998. Accuracy and precision were evaluated at three concentrations and found to be within acceptable limits. LOD and LOQ were determined at 0.1 and 0.5 μg/mL, respectively. Lacosamide was found to be stable at storage conditions. The developed method was applied successfully in clinical samples and postmortem blood sample from an overdose case.     

Increasing Methamphetamine Detection in Cases of Early Childhood Fatalities

Age and organ maturity can influence drug toxicity in children; however, most clinical data and literature are based on drug concentrations in adults. Therefore, the interpretation of drugs detected in children is often difficult or not possible. Retrospective reviewing of pathology and toxicology information from postmortem cases may assist in future interpretations or identify drug trends. A search of the Forensic Science SA case files was undertaken over 15 years from January 2002 to December 2016 for all children (<13 years). Of the 412 pediatric coronial cases, toxicological information was available on 373. At least one drug was detected in 94 cases with paracetamol, ibuprofen, codeine and hospital-administrated lignocaine and morphine among the most commonly detected agents. Methamphetamine, one of the most commonly abused illicit drugs in Australia, was found in seven cases. In the methamphetamine cases, deaths were associated with shared sleeping in three, pneumonia in one, and stillbirth in one. Methamphetamine was considered potentially contributory to death in two cases. The causes of death in the remaining two cases were undetermined. As six of the seven positive cases occurred in the 2012–2016 (n = 106) timeframe, an increase has occurred over recent years in the number of infants and young children presenting to forensic autopsy in South Australia who have detectable concentrations of methamphetamine. If this is an indication of a more generalized increased childhood exposure in the community there may be significant long-term physical and psychological effects.     

毒品犯罪案件侦查中情报的人力传递

情报是禁毒的生命线,传递性是情报的基本特征之一。毒品犯罪案件侦查在运用现代科技手段传递情报的同时,重视和运用传统人力方法手段来传递情报显得尤为重要,具体包括非语言信号暗示传递、秘密接头、秘密交接点、秘密情报传递点等。     

介导鸭疫里默氏杆菌耐β-内酰胺类药物发生的研究

采用平板二倍稀释法检测了临床分离的54株耐β-内酰胺类药的鸭疫里默氏杆菌(RA)的最低抑菌浓度(MIC值),进一步开展了耐药泵表型检测、β-内酰胺酶表型和基因型检测以及脉冲电泳指纹图谱和耐药泵相关性研究.结果显示,54株RA临床分离株对苯唑西林、青霉素、头孢噻肟和头孢吡肟的耐药率分别为100%、100%、66.7%和98.15%;耐药泵抑制剂氰氯苯腙可使53株RA对β-内酰胺类药物MIC值显著下降(P＜0.01),MIC下降倍数最高达到2048倍,耐药率依次下降为88.89%、46.30%、22.22%和38.89%;54株RA的β-内酰胺酶表型和基因型检测结果均为阴性;54株RA基因组经Sma Ⅰ酶切后以82%相似性系数为界,可分为13个脉冲电泳群,同一群的不同菌株可以认为是同一菌株不同克隆亚体或突变体.Ⅱ群、Ⅲ群、Ⅶ群、Ⅷ群、Ⅺ群和Ⅻ群对头孢吡肟和V群对头孢噻肟的耐药是由耐药泵介导的,而其他群的菌株则出现了其他机制.说明,耐药泵只是介导RA对β-内酰胺类药物耐药的主要因素之一.     

毒品犯罪案件侦查思维基本特征及其推理研究

毒品犯罪是一种特殊的刑事犯罪,具有隐蔽性、组织性、国际性、秘密性等特点.因此毒品犯罪案件侦查挑战性更大,难以发现,难以取证.为了破解这样的难题,必须重视毒品犯罪侦查思维的研究.毒品犯罪案件侦查思维基本特征主要表现为超前性、"经营"性和博弈性,其中运用逻辑推理可以弥补线索较少的不足,有助于指明方向,缩小侦查范围,寻找突破...     

论广东贩毒犯罪案件的特点及查缉对策

由于广东所处的特殊地理位置和特定的社会经济环境,改革开放以来贩毒犯罪案件较为突出。为了有效地侦查贩毒案件,本文具体分析了贩毒犯罪案件的一些特点,并在此基础上提出缉毒的具体侦查对策。     

From Family Feud to Organised Crime: The Cultural Economy of Cannabis in Northeast Brazil

Abstract — Traditional family feuding and banditry as well as envy-inspired violence associated with capitalised irrigation have been intensified by the introduction of cannabis farming and organised crime in the Sertão of Northeast Brazil to the point that today the cannabis producing zone is one of the most violent places in the world. These three interrelated forms of contemporary violence arose, respectively, in the pre-1940 frontier setting, in the 1940 to 1980 period of rapid Brazilian industrialisation which depressed peasant sectors and stimulated the rise of capitalised irrigation and in the post-1980 period of economic stagnation and social-political crisis in Brazil which depressed consumer markets and induced the State to liberalise foreign trade policy to the detriment of periphery regions like the Northeast.     

Illegal Dealings: The Impact of Low-Level Police Enforcement on Drug Markets

This article examines the impact of low-level police enforcement on two British drug markets, and the adaptations to enforcement made by sellers and buyers. The two markets took very different forms. One was tightly controlled by a small number of middle-level dealers, and highly structured. The structure and control worked effectively to minimise risks posed by law enforcement. The other market was very loosely structured, with little control exercised on retail sellers by middle-level dealers. This lack of organisation posed different sets of problems for law enforcement. The article examines the potential for developing the role of police sources (informants) in disrupting drug markets of both sorts. It also argues the need for provision in parallel of local treatment facilities for drug users.     

当前毒品测试的检材及方法

严峻的毒品形势使禁毒已成为我们公安工作的重要内容,当前缉毒检测工作的一个重点就是不断研究出快速准确的毒品检测方法。人体内毒品成分测试可用的检材有很多,采用最多的检材是尿液。常用的方法有仪器和非仪器两种。无论哪种方法,最初的筛选采用的都是免疫测试的方法。这也是当前流行的方法及研究的一个重要课题。本文将从检材和方法两方面进行人体内毒品成分检测的讨论。