‘Drug crimes are cash-rich but wealth-averse,’ warns expert

Drug researcher at the University of Pretoria, Shaun Shelly, urges young people to refrain from drug trafficking because it rarely yields beneficial riches.

The scholar believes tremendous negative costs are involved in the money that can be generated so easily.

“Although crime pays in one way, it also doesn’t pay in another way. There is a tremendous cost involved in the so-called easy money of being a cartel boss or even being lower down the cartel hierarchy. The cost far outweighs the profit margin. I have always said that these types of criminal enterprises for people lower down the food chain are cash-rich but wealth averse,” says Shelly.

“You are not going to build up a massive fortune in such dealings. They are cash-rich, profit-poor, so you might have a lot of cash passing through your hands, but how much of that you keep is extremely limited,” adds Shelly.

Shelly’s remarks come as convicted notorious drug lord, El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzmán López, who is accused of drug trafficking and running a criminal enterprise – Chapitos – with his brothers, is set to forfeit $80 million (just over R1.4 billion) following his arrest in the US in 2023.

The heir to Chapo’s drug cartel only recently changed his plea from “not guilty” to “guilty” in a Chicago court. Lopez offered to testify against his family in exchange for a reduced sentence of 10 years. He is the first of Chapo’s sons, who has promised to snitch on his family.

Lopez’s cooperation with the US government could provide critical intelligence on cartel operations and may also lead to additional arrests.

Shelly believes it doesn’t matter which way Lopez may have opted to handle his position in the matter, as he risks persecution and possible danger.

“Firstly, there are the authorities who are going to clamp down on his freedoms in prison above and beyond the freedom of other people. The police are concerned that he might escape, as his father has a history of skipping prison, too. They will perhaps take away a lot of his rights. The cartels will also likely want to take revenge if he gives any names away. If arrests are made suddenly after his testimony, he may face the threat of assassination by a hitman or even a cartel member within prison. There are also prisoners who might want to prove themselves or create infamy for themselves by taking things from him. If I were him, I’d sleep with one eye open because he’s got danger on every single side of him,” says Shelly.

The drug expert says that although probable revelations in his testimony may prove to be dramatic, it would not necessarily dissuade others from engaging in drug trafficking offences.

“Often people are forced into a situation which they believe they are not totally in control of, especially with someone in Lopez’s case, where he is born into a family of crime. Also, because we have so much poverty in the world and this overwhelming belief that people can only be happy if they have lots of money; people will always be attracted by things that promise money. Wherever there is an unregulated market and there is a high demand, there is also a huge opportunity for profit,” says Shelly.

Shelly says that although he stands firmly against drug crimes, hefty terms for offenders wouldn’t necessarily lessen the level of related crimes within society or convince some people that “crime doesn’t pay”.

He believes the harshness of a life of criminality is what makes some people life-long re-offenders.

“You are surrounded by betrayal, constant violence, and the possibility of your death always lingering in mind to the extent that some criminals feel that maybe the safest place for them is being in jail, although this might not guarantee their complete safety,” explains Shelly.

He believes that one of the most significant causes of worldwide drug criminality is a lack of opportunity, poverty, and many people’s overestimated belief that happiness equates to the availability of large sums of money.

“We need to look after the communities’ financial well-being, and available opportunities in order to reduce the number of people who go into these kinds of large national trans-organised crime issues,” says Shelly.

According to the drug researcher, Lopez’s possible implication of others in his testimony will most likely breed further bloodshed because too many people’s livelihoods depend on the earnings they make from drug trafficking.

He hopes that Lopez’s case motivates the government to put a critical eye on the issue of unregulated drugs in markets, as well as the damage they have caused to young people and communities as a whole. He urges the state to prioritise addressing challenges caused by inequality and lack/access to opportunity.  Written by Odirile Rabalao