[extropy-chat] Total global capital tied to illicit drugs

[Lifespan Pharma Inc.]

I wonder just how many net  billions are involved in the supply chains 
from field to user for the
world's  illicit drug supply chains?

When these operations consolidate at the top end exactly which groups 
and institutions corral major portions of this capital?

Essentially what would be the impact to the global economy if these 
supply chains were no longer in existance.
How much capital would be freed up to divert to alternative uses as a 
result.

Could the capital equivalent to this fund a healthspan-extension supply 
chain?

What I am getting at is that with the growing understanding of 
nutrigenomics it is more and more feasible
to consider key aspects of nutrition and supplementation as medicine to 
optimize healthspan (Kurzweil stage1).

 From a macro view of resource allocation I am thinking that one might 
divert resources already in existance
to be able to retool the illicit drug market into an nutrigenomic market.

All those folks growing magic mushrooms could add medicinal ones to flow 
into a nutrigenomic market.
All those folks growing opium and pot etc might be given new lines and 
assured nutrigenomic markets.
All those folks with the home labs might get trained to run contract 
bioreactors for nutrigenomic markets.

Too silly?

Why do I bring this up..
I'm on my last day of harvesting cannabis of the hemp kind and should 
have 9 truckloads of dry seed and
biomass in storage.
I have taken what is usually done plant by plant and done it acre by acre.
And so far have not offended any regulators in doing so.
Of course there are the fun times like when I drop pictures off at Wal 
mart and have to pick them up from the
police station and get to sit and visit with those guys a while.
So maybe I have a tonne or 2 of medicinal cannabis.  In the underground 
economy , as a non-hemp variety it would be worth
say 10 million dollars.  In a hemp economy it might be worth 300,000 $ 
at my door and 1,000,000 at the consumers door.

What I am saying is that the underground drug economy might be retooled 
to a valuable bio-economy
and that the war on drugs might be retooled into the war on premature death.

Just some idle thoughts for consideration.