More light reading….

From The Cocaine Wars 1988.

In 1979 DEA Intel Analyst Miguel Walsh estimated Columbia’s annual production of cocaine hydrochloride at 13,800 kilos, with a maximum base ingredient cost of US$625 per kilo becoming $9550 once processed. In transit to the US : $24000 and once inside the US $37000, cut 1:1 to 50% pure giving 2 kilos at $37k each for the ‘wholesaler’ to the ‘distributor‘ who cuts another 50% to 4 kilos which the ‘retailer’ then cuts into 8 kilos sold for $70 per gram. The $625 of cocoa leaves could fetch $560,000 on the streets of America and the 13,800 kilos produced per year estimated at $7,784,000,000 in potential revenues from a raw cost of $8 million …the most valuable commodity in the world.
In 1982 the purity on the streets averaged 12.5% cut 8 times (and cost $47 to $60k per kilo for any purity), in 1987 the average in Miami was 33% meaning cut 3 times (and now cost between $9 and $14k per kilo).

And…

“In early 1979 Bahamas Assistant Commissioner of Police Lawrence Major made a surprise visit to the island of Great Exuma 150 miles from the Bahaman capital Nassau and decided on impulse to search the light plane that had landed immediately before his plane. On board he found 247 pounds worth $2 billion at street value, the biggest seizure ever made at that time. Shortly after Major went to Black Rock, a deserted outcrop off the island of Grand Bahama where he discovered a cache of marijuana so enormous he had to pace it out to estimate its measurements: it was six feet high and more than two miles long.”