Hacker News Reader

I mean this article claims they'd save $320 million. And that's presumably before they sell any cocaine or other products they produce with the leaves. So it seems like it could be workable.

View on HN

>> they sell any cocaine

Lol. Take that money I mentioned above, all that military aid. If the Columbian government starts selling cocaine that money will fund the US military invasion of columbia. The US might be on the brink of legalizing weed, but it is a long long way from accepting colombia as an official narco state.

Venezuela is already a narco state, no invasion there

How is it going within Venezuela these days? Might that have anything to do with its relation to the US? Invasion isn't always the right measure. Invasion is the most expensive and most visible measure and the measure that is most frowned upon. The US has no interest in doing that, I think they learned their lesson. But there are a lot of other ways to retaliate.

The article mentions selling the cocaine within Colombia, and to pharma companies for research. Presumably they'd think long and hard before selling it for recreational purposes in markets where that's illegal.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com